In The Midst of Darkness
by Narutoimagine01
Summary: Hinata always felt sorry for the people who always preferred darkness over light which of meaning revenge and hatred over peace and love. When she meets the almighty Sasuke Uchiha in a mission, she promises herself to bring him out of his misery he forsaken upon himself under any means necessary. Who knew that falling in love with him was the only way?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer:

I do not own Naruto. And if I did… Neji will be alive and I would marry all the hot guys….I sound desperate…. Ah, who cares? All the girls would do the same..Yea a girl is writing this story.

The Mission

"Aww come on! Cheer up! It won't be so bad."

"Shut it, Kiba. You're not making it better."

"Who asked you, Shino!?"

Hinata's heart is racing, pounding in her ears as she watched Kiba and Shino arguing. Easy for Kiba to say it won't be difficult. This was her first mission as impersonating a "hooker".

"_Well," she gulped, "What's the worst that could happen?"_

_FLASHBACK:_

"_**You are here, Hinata Hyuga, to receive a B- rank mission to the Land of Waves. All you have to do is get information out of a man in a reasonable matter." Tsunade stated.**_

_**"Reasonable matter?"**_

_**Tsunade walks up to Hinata and stares some-what softly yet sternly to her face while putter her hands on her shoulder.**_

_**"I didn't want to agree at first, but you're the only available kunoichi and this mission needs to be completed as quickly as possible. I had a talk with your father and he solemnly agreed on one condition.**_

_**She stared at the Hokage with a confused expression on her face.**_

_**"Hinata, you're going to infiltrate a bar as a streetwalker and get hold of a rich, evil man name Hiruku. He's been robbing the poor yet he claims they are doing more worse things to him but still he needs to be stopped before things get out of hand. You already have an appointment scheduled with him and you just coax him around until he spills. If not, you're going to have to use force. Do you understand? You can leave this mission on your own free will. No one is here to stop you. But if we don't get this case closed it will maybe start a war against us."**_

_**By the time Tsunade finished she was ready to call it quits. But if she already talked to my father, he's expecting me to do it.**_

_**"Hai, Hokage,sama. But what's this condition my father requested?" she asked in a monotone yet a little shaky voice.**_

_**Tsunade squeezed her hands onto my shoulder and said, "Your father accepted you to go on this mission if I promise you'll come back clean and like he said "untainted".**_

_End of FLASHBACK:_

Hinata shook her head. Tsunade said he wasn't a skilled ninja so he won't be a challenge. The fact for being all seductive on a thirty-ish old man was not what she liked. Even though she has gotten strong and got rid of all her shyness and stuttering, she couldn't help but get some what nervous. Especially since her FATHER knew of this.

"Well, I'm gonna go now. I have to pack for tomorrow's mission. Arigato for the meal, Shino, Kiba."

Quickly she left her stool, left money on the table and left.

"Great, Shino! You hurt her feelings!" Kiba barked.

"I think she left because she couldn't bear to hear you're pathetic argument." Shino stated coolly.

"Why I otta..."

When Hinata reached her home, Neji greeted her with a bow.

"I believe you are going to get ready for tomorrow's mission," Neji asked.

Hinata froze. How did he find out? Did father tell him? As if reading her mind,

"You're father told me and he asked for my own personal opinion if this is the right thing for you."

"Wha… What did you say to father?"

Neji turned around and took a few steps and he spoke softly," I said to your father that I think you are willing to do any mission because of your way of the ninja is to never give up. And since the war, you've proven to show great strength. I have no doubt you will succeed. Am I to be proven wrong? Ask almost anyone and they would likely say you are definitely stronger and possibly strong to lead the Hyuga. Good luck, Lady Hinata. I have faith you'll come back alright."

As he said that, he left. Hinata stood there in awe yet relieved that Neji-san had told such things to her father. Without another thought, Hinata swiftly went to her room to pack for the mission. Through her mind, she quickly thought of the list of things she needed for the mission.

_Weapons, Food rations, extra clothes.._

Hinata stopped abruptly next to the bag Tsunade gave her. It consisted of makeup, jewelry, and the appropriate clothing she would need to wear when she entered. Plus, Tsunade added hair dye and contact lenses to disguise her so no one would suspect a Hyuga in an uncivilized area. Quickly she gathered her things and went to the kitchen to make some food for the trip and got ready to bed.

_"Please let this mission be okay.."_ she thought and drifted to sleep.

For those who have read this like a month back, I changed it up quite a bit because I didn't really like the beginning but hope you still like it. I barely have time so I will most likely put up chapters as slow as a snail so bear with me. It's my first fanfic and I wanna make it perfect. The chapters will be a little short in the beginning but they will get more….. advanced than what they are now. Thank you for whose following me, I really appreciate it. Later ;)

Oh P.S. if someone read manga and knows about Neji's death, I needed him alive in this story. If you ask why, because a man like THAT should NEVER die. Not in my book. Hehe…


	2. Chapter 2

Unexpected Visitor

"Dammit."

The sun was barely shining through the dark, cavern room yet he knew it was way past the time he was to be awoken. Not eager to face the music, the one and only Uchiha Sasuke was pissed. Grumbling about "stupid people" and "crazy woman", he went to the bathroom and washed up for his job of the day. He knew if he didn't get there on time, he'll get "eliminated". _Well screw them, he thought_. He went to his kitchen; which only consisted of a burner, a little cabinet and a sink. Grabbing some water and bread as a breakfast, he went for his mission.

Being only two miles of her destination, she was willing to travel right on back to Konoha. _No, Hinata. You'll be alright. You're a strong kunoichi and you can take down any mission. Just walk in, act pretty and get rid of him. _She whined. Easier said than done. She saw ahead of the buildings and stopped on the side of the road. She looked side to side, and when she knew no one was looking, she dashed into the forest. About 100 meters from the place where she just had been, she dropped her bag and revealed the contents. She took a little box out consisting two small orbs. "I hate this," she muttered while sticking hazelnut-colored contacts to her eyes. Her hair was dyed to a solid tone of black that she did before she left for the mission. Quickly, she scanned the area with her byuakugan, before she dressed into more suitable clothing for the mission. _This mission should at least be S-ranked_, Hinata thought swiftly before putting her over-sized jacket and pants into the bag that just held a snug fit dress that revealed a good about of skin. The dress was designed with bright red and black that had a good cut from the bottom of the dress to her mid-thigh and showed a good about of cleavage. _This could attract more than a client._ Brushing away the thought, she applied make up and really expensive looking jewelry. When she looked at her face with a mirror, she saw a completely different person. She prayed to kami that no one she knew was going to see her. She thought wrong.

Entering the famous city in the land of Earth, Sasuke swiftly made his way to his designation point. He entered the bar and was viewed by dozens of eyeballs. Cursing himself for not disguising, he made his way to a back table. A waitress with a too short dress came up and started beating her eyelashes like she got something stuck in her eyes. Pathetic.

"What can I order for you, hotshot?" she said with a seductive voice. He looked at her passively and ordered a bottle of sake. She walked away and tried to sway her hips while being on those ugly and way too tall high heels. Even more pathetic. _Why couldn't her just finish his mission his own way?_ Instead, he was sitting in a bar, drinking sake and waiting for Hiruku to pick up his lady and spend a little quality time with her before he has to intervene. _What was the point? I should just barge in there right now and just kill him._ Just when he planned on getting up, someone walked in only to catch his attention.

Hinata's POV:

You can do this. You can do this. Hinata was standing at the entrance of the bar that she had to infiltrate. She was right on time too. _Suck it up and finish this off! _I_ thought_. I opened the door only for dozens of eyes to stare at me. _Great. _I quickly scanned the room only to catch on to black, unordinary onyx eyes. Wait, what is Sasuke doing here? Forget it. Just go with the flow and I'll deal with him later. She smoothly went to the bartender and in the sweetest voice she could possibly do and said, "I'm here with an appointment With Hiruku-kun." The bartender nodded and told her a room number and Hinata thanked him. She looked so smooth on the outside but inside her heart beating a million beats a second. This mission is already a pain, and to top it off, HE'S here? Why was he? Is he traveling? If I could only convince him to return to the Hidden Village in the Leaves.

Back in the Village, Naruto has finally earned his spot in the Hokage seat, after proving himself after the war that he is capable of being the village's next guardian. Though Naruto was Hokage, Tsunade was still left in charge on some main parts of work that Naruto wasn't capable of at this moment. Everyone still viewed Tsunade Hokage but she only did her job like sending ninja to missions. Naruto was actually taking Hokage seriously and was doing a good job at it. Hinata was proud of him, but no longer did she have the feelings for him. Right after he became Hokage, he proposed to Sakura in front of the entire village to prove that his love for her beats in his heart. Sakura of course, said yes. Hinata was heartbroken at first but soon learned that it never was meant to be. After the war, Sasuke stayed in the village long enough to pack his belongings, rejecting the offer of being ANBU Captain and fled saying he can't stand being in a village where betrayed his family and Itachi. Naruto didn't agree of course but soon let him go. Naruto has been Hokage for two years now, and the village is in piece but some evil is still left to fix. Naruto is still mad that he can't do anything to bring Sasuke back but for the past couple months he rarely mentioned him. It's still a big scar on his chest and Hinata was willing to mend it for a friend's sake. Now if she brought Sasuke back, Naruto won't always have to hide behind his trademark grin and be fully happy. And Hinata was willing to bend some rules to help.

Sasuke was thrown off. What was a Hyuga doing here asking for an appointment to a filthy bastard like Hiruku? Then it hit him. He rose from his seat, tossed some money on the table and walked to the direction she just left. He wasn't going to sit around while she was going to end up doing his job. As much as he hated killing, he needed the money and to only get his money he needed Hiruku's blood on his katana to get his payment. He could just wait and let her kill him, but letting a girl do his work? Not his style. That bastard was going to die, and he'll die by me whether the kunoichi liked it or not.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Plan in Action

Turning into the corridor, Hinata replayed the plan in her head and some other variations just in case something gets on the way. Or SOMEONE. For Hinata, this isn't the first time she had to act seductive but it's her first doing it by herself so it's only natural for her to be nervous. Let's just hope nothing bad will happen like last time, she thought as the memory flashed through her eyes. After all, she didn't have backup on this mission like her previous one with Neji and Tenten. Hinata shuddered at the memory. What a mission they went on. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Hinata was a couple yards away from the target's room. Walking slowly, she reached the door and held her hand to knock. Her fist stopped inches from the door. If looking from the outside you would see a brave looking kunoichi but in the inside A heart was bearing as the speed of light! Come ON! Knock on the door already! And with those thoughts her fist landed on the door and she knocked three quiet knocks. Seconds later, the door was thrown open by a man. He looked like he was in his middle-thirties, auburn hair, quite handsome for his age, with dark green eyes. Looking a little drunk yet somewhat sober he smirked.

"Aaaahh, so you're Hikari," he slurred out, while tryin to hold on the doorframe."Beautiful woman."

Hinata blushed. He then called two guards to stand next to the door.

Hinata, composed her act and replied softly, "Sorry for taking a while, Hiru-kun. But I'm here now."

She put her hand firmly on Hiruku's chest and pushed him away from the doorframe while closing the door. But then, he pushed her hand away gently and grabbed her from behind, snaking his arms around her waist. It felt so wrong, Hinata just wanted to puke and kill the man already.

"No need to apologize, my hime," he said, while breathing next to her ear. "But next time you come late, be ready for a punishment."

Blast it! She thought. I hoped he wouldn't say something about that!

"Oh? A punishment? Care to explain what kind?"

"Don't worry, my hime," he said as he sat down while turning her around, "it will be of one that you might like."

Disgusting bastard.

Hinata draped her arms around his neck and sat in his lap.

"Well, we'll see about that. But first things first," Hinata asked while running her right hand though his hair, "How was your day today?"

He looked at Hinata with slight amusement on his face.

"What?"

"Out of all the girls I ever called, you're the first to ask me such a question. Usually they pounce on me. Am I not that attractive that you actually started a conversation?" He joked.

Hinata forced a giggle. "Well then, I'm not like any girl you've had before then so be pleased you will ever get this chance. I am a human not an animal so be ready for a good discussion with me. I love men that can handle my loud, talkable mouth."

Hiruku took some sake that was sitting on a little table beside them and poured some into two little cups. He offered her one.

"Heh, I guess you're right. Well, I haven't had a good talk in a long time."

He's nothing like I expected, Hinata thought in concern. But it can all be an act. I can't drop my guard down.

"Where the hell is she?!" He questioned angrily. Sasuke speed walked through the corridors, trying to find some glimpse of her. She's quick, I give her that, he thought. Turning swiftly to the right, he was about to enter another hallway but stopped abruptly when he saw guards standing at a door.

Bingo.

He looked around trying to find something to get their attention. Finding nothing, he sighed. I can't use Sharingan. I'll be giving out too much chakra. I guess Plan B, then.

Swiftly making hand signs he made a clone like himself but at a younger age. Perfect, he thought. I'm not using too much chakra to get noticed. The kid in front of him had messed up hair, torn clothing and a dirty face but with the same dark, unreadable eyes. A painful memory came to Sasuke but quickly dismissed it off. The kid sped off towards the guards. When he reached them, he grabbed one of the guards pants and pulled them straight down and kicked the other guard straight into his prized manhood and ran off laughing. Both guards pulled out their swords and ran after the kid, swearing to kill the runt. Naruto's pranks are to be remembered. Slightly chuckling, Sasuke checked if the coast was clear and came up to the door ready to break it straight down from its hinges. A woman's laughter stopped him in his tracks.

Concealing his chakra, he put his ear on the door and listened.

Hinata's POV

Hinata laughed. His stories were indeed funny but in her thoughts she knew he was a man with no heart.

"So, you're telling me that you traveled all around the world GAMBLING your money away?"

"Uh, y-yea, Hiruku replied sheepishly."I think I had a little problem with that."

"Little?!" Hikari(Hinata) exclaimed. "You sound worse than the Legendary Sucker! And she gambles quite a lot!"

"Hey! Don't judge! I bet you have an addiction as well!" Hiruku proclaimed.

"... I might."

"Really?"

"Yea, but it's not a BAD addiction!"

"Hey, you said you wouldn't make fun of it!"

"Oh, sorry! Sorry!" Hinata said while trying to hold in her laugh. He doesn't seem like a man who would rob from the poor, she thought mentally.

"So are you going to tell me it, or not?" Hiruku questioned while passing her a cup of sake. She took it and drained it in one gulp.

"Hey big girl, now. Is drinking your addiction?" He said teasingly.

Quickly shaking her head, she waited until the fiery path of the liquid went down her throat. Hinata usually didn't drink, but when she did, she drank it like it was water. Plus, Tsunade knew Hinata was to be offered alcohol so she gave Hinata stimulants to not get drunk to fast.

Laughing, she answered, "No, I drink it rarely. Men seem to find that attractive to have a drunk lady in their lap. ...Never mind. But it you insist on knowing my addiction, I'll tell you but you can't make fun of it."

Hiruku made an X across his heart. "Cross my heart or hope to die."

Sighing, Hinata looked at Hiruku and smiled hesitantly. Time to drop the bomb and get rid of him. _Hope my plan works,_ she thought nervously.

"I... I love helping out the old and the needy," she muttered while putting her head down which caused her bangs to cover her eyes. She glanced at Hiruku for any sign of guilt or anger. Surprisingly, she saw none.

"Well, you can laugh now. I can see you're holding it in," Hinata said, hurt coming from those words.

A hand came up and turned her head and she came face to face with Hiruku.

"My Hikari, I don't find it funny at all. Not a lot of people care about the old and the needy. It's good to know some people still show love to them."

Hinata stood. She looked irritated and angry.

"And THAT'S why I am helping them! I've seen what cruel people do to them. They steal, burn their homes, KILL them. And I know you used to do it too! I wouldn't even be surprised if you still do it! Ah, Kami! Why did I even bring this up!"

Hinata fell on her knees to the floor. Shaking violently, Hinata couldn't help but actually feel sorry and yet she was acting it out.

"... My m-mother... Father. Brother. Dead. Because no one c-cared for the needy and killed them!"

She lifted her face and shouted, "I-I'm not strong enough to kill the man who killed my family! And here I am, as a m-messed up prostitute, crying about her past and.. and! Oh, forgive me! Hinata buried her face in her hands. "I have no right to y-yell at you. Please don't kick me out... This is the only way I earn money," she silently pleaded.

Silence was in the rooms which got Hinata got anxious. Please let this work, Hinata pleaded.

Hiruku looked at the girl surprisingly. If she knew I was a killer, why didn't she just call guards and arrest me? I know I won't be able to put up a fight. He grimaced.

"I won't lie about saying of what I did to the poor but you don't know the other side of the story of WHY I do that."

Hinata rose her head with a start. Interesting. "Wha-what do you mean? The poor can do you no harm! They don't have weapons or armies or ANYTHING to hurt anyone! How can you blame them when you don't even know how it is to feel poor!"

Hiruku muttered, "I do know..."

Hinata stared at him with a bewildered look on her face. "Y-you were... poor before, Hiruku?"

With an exasperated sigh, he sat down next to Hinata. " I WAS poor. Back then I was living more poor than anybody else today. All I wanted was to be happy. But it couldn't seem to be."

Hinata wiped her eyes and spoke softly, "What happened?"

Hiruku looked at Hinata with disbelief in his eyes. It seemed his story was too precious to be told to a prostitute.

"Don't worry," Hinata comforted with a smile, "I won't tell anyone. I promise." She them gestured an X over her heart.

A small smile rose to Hiruku's face and he gave in with a sigh.

"This happened about 7 years ago when I lived in a rice farm in the land of rice patty's. I was 25 and living independent. I was too caught up in work because of my poverty that I didn't have time to stop and think when I could settle down and grow a family. I always thought that I was too poor to even keep me up on my feet. But after a while, I gave it some thought and decided." Hiruku looked down and closed his eyes. "I met this beautiful woman named Senya. She also was dirt poor like me but she had to raise a family. We fell in love and married a couple months later. Sigh."

"What happened next?"Hinata asked, fascinated by the story.

Hiruku's brown eyes met hers. "Let's just say she married me for money."

Hinata burrowed her brows in confusion. "Wait, you just said you were poor. There was nothing to ROB from you. Unless..."

"Unless I robbed for her," he interrupted. "I was against this at first but the next day she brought five men with her and threatened to kill me and my family that lived by themselves. I, of course, agreed. We made a promise that I will help her if she doesn't harm my family."

Hiruku stood up and went next to the window and looked out.

"I felt horrible. I slaughtered like a mad man. I though the more I earn, the faster she will quit her will. It only made her crave for more."

"Is she still alive?" Hinata asked. Hiruku bowed his head.

A strained silence filled the room. Hiruku picked his head up and turned to Hinata with empty eyes. Hinata had seen those eyes before and there was only one meaning to it.

"I killed her."

Please review! I'll really appreciate. you can also write what i need to fix, add, or any suggestions. this si my first fanfic so it might be... well horrible but i appreciate it!

Thanks for reading and farewell,

Narutoimagine01


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four

Finally they Meet

Hinata looked at the man, expressions changing by the second. It started with sadness and quickly changed to shock and after a few seconds it went to anger.

"So the only way to stop all this madness was to kill her?" Hinata asked aggressively.

Hiruku looked at her grimly. "I didn't kill her myself. I couldn't live with too much guilt."

"But you still killed h-."

"It's not like you don't kill as a ninja." He cut in.

Hinata wasn't surprised. She was asking way to many questions for just a hooker so she guessed he knew. Which means she definitely needed to fulfill her mission, yet she was having second thoughts.

"So you've guessed I was a ninja."

Hiruku smirked. "It was too obvious with the questions, but your acting was flawless, I must say."

Hinata grunted. "I'm flattered for your praise but what we do is the most correct way. We ninja kill threats and people who pose these threats. We only kill when we need to."

"So, I'm a threat and you need to kill me?"

"Yes, I count you as a threat, even though you were forced to be one. You way of killing is meaningless slaughter while our is to get rid of guilty and no need to kill the innocent."

Hiruku raised an eyebrow. "That's touching. So I can assume you never killed an innocent person?"

Hinata frowned. "Never needed to. I always found a way to skip that kind of murder. You should have too. There could have been some way you and Senya could have reasoned it out."

Hiruku chuckled. "There was no way that could have ever happened. I tried but let me tell you one thing. She was CRAZY. And I mean what I say. All she saw was money in her eyes and if she didn't have enough she would go on a rampage. She even thought if killing me because my head was high in the bingo book."

"I thought you felt horrible when you killed. I wouldn't be surprised if you committed seppuku after you killed your own lover." Hinata said judgingly. She looked at him in the eye. "I have one question still to ask. Do you still do this? Rob the poor and kill them?"

Hiruku looked at her with such a stare that it sent shivers down her spine.

"Of course I don't. All the money she earned I gambled it away."

Hinata sighed and rubbed her temples. What a mission. "My mission was to kill you for your actions and to make sure no more threats are to come to my village. It seems the main culprit is dead but nonetheless, you were part of the scheme, so I'll be taking you to custody."

"That won't be necessary."

Hinata turned around, startled by the person who just entered the room. The dark figure stood in the corner of the room, his face was covered by the darkness in the room yet she saw dark eyes stare right into her soul.

Hinata took her fighting stance. "Care to explain why it won't be necessary? But I can already guess you want this man dead too."

"Hn. That's sharp of you."

"We'll I'm afraid you're going to fail your mission because I'm taking him. And if you want him, you have to go through me."

Chuckling the stranger replied, "Well, aren't you a brave girl. But it's not wise got you to challenge a man without knowing who he is."

"By looking at you, I can see you are strong because you hide your chakra signature well. I didn't even sense you come in but if I activated my Bya-..."

Hinata cursed. She wasn't supposed to reveal her identity.

"Ah, a Hyuga."

Hinata glared at him and smirked. "Now, now it's not polite to call an old friend that. Ain't that right Sasuke?"

Sasuke's POV:

Damn it. She knows who I am. And she HAD to state for I was. Talking a few steps forward, the candle light hit his face, showing contrast to the now blood red eyes.

"Hn. So you knew it was me."

"No one has a chakra signature as you," Hinata perked.

Sasuke smirked. "Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"If you want to call it that."

After Hinata spoke a loud crash erupted and both looked up to see Hiruku jumping out the window. Both ran to the window just enough to see a glimpse running to the deep forest that surrounds the village.

"Oh, this is bad," Hinata whined.

"Yea, no shit," Sasuke stated coolly.

"Well, it was YOUR fault!"

Sasuke looked at her surprised. "Mine?! You're the one who started talking to me and forgot about the guy!"

"Yea, well so did you!" Hinata went across the room and release a camouflage jutsu to reveal a bag. She started pulling things out and Sasuke raised a brow.

"What are you doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing?" She stated while taking her kunai holster and tied it to her leg. She took some clothing out and turned to Sasuke, waiting.

"Ahem."

"What?"

She lifted the clothes in her hands. Getting her cue, Sasuke sighed and turned around.

"Thank you."

"You trust me that I won't turn around?" Sasuke said calmly with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"I don't trust you at all. But by the time I kick you out so I can change, Hiruku will be out of distance. I would have started to undress without warning you, but I am a woman after all."

"It's not like I would want to see anything," Sasuke stated gruffly.

"Yea, whatever. Well, you can turn around now. Better yet you can leave me to finish my mission."

Hinata burned all her evidence and slung her bag over her shoulder and started walking towards the Uchiha who was eyeing her suspiciously.

"No thanks, I'm good," Sasuke spoke.

Hinata was really getting mad. "It's not like I'm giving you a choice."

"I'm going to propose a deal. We both need him, so whoever catches him first, gets him. Alright?" Sasuke stretched his hand out to shake.

Hinata eyed his with distrust in her eyes. Sasuke scoffed. "What you don't trust me?"

"I'm already having a hard time still believing that the almighty Uchiha had said more words to me in the past 5 minutes than the past 10 years or so."

"Hn. Well, meet the new talkative me."

Hinata smiled. "And I also never counted you as a man who makes bets."

"Like I said meet the new me. It's a limited edition. Now hurry up!"

Hinata sighed dramatically. "Finnnnee." Hinata stretched her arm out and shook it his. His hard hand gave her a firm shake before letting go.

Sasuke looked satisfied. "Ok, now I'm going to do a countdown from three? Ok?"

"You don't have to tutor me through all this," Hinata said, her voice edgy with impatience

Sasuke stared at her with wonder. "Y'know, you're not the same girl I knew back then."

"Well it's a limited edition that you'll only get to see." And with that Hinata jumped out the window and landed gracefully on the floor, then started running to the forest.

"Right," Sasuke muttered. "Limited edition." And he took off after her.

Hinata jumped from tree to tree, Byuakugan active, searching for the culprit. That arrogant man, thinking I'm some child that can't handle myself, Hinata thought. A few miles away, she sees Hiruku looked around him suspiciously before tapping on a tree. The tree opened and he entered. Hinata smiled. Sasuke doesn't have the advantage like she did. She could see farther than him with her Byakugan and his Sharingan can only copy. He won't know where to go when he sees the chakra signature vanish out of nowhere.

Hinata landed in a bush, a couple of feet away from the tree. Looking inside the tree, she saw four tunnels underground leading in different directions. One led to the South, towards the village where she just came from, to the east, west and to the north. Catching a stray line of chakra in the North tunnel, Hinata deactivated her Byuakugan and shook her head. I spoke too soon. He has the speed of lightning. "You can come out now."

Two yards away from behind, Sasuke walked away from his hiding spot behind a tree. He walked up to the now standing Hyuga, who had her arms crossed over her chest, and he smiled. "Found me."

Hinata scoffed. "There's no fun playing Hide and Seek when you possess these eyes."

"Well, then your childhood must have sucked," Sasuke stated. Hinata eyed Sasuke.

"Hate to break your, oh so smart knowledge, but I only learned how to activate my Byuakugan when I was ten and becoming a ninja. I had my fair share of hide and seek before that. And what about you? You never hung around anyone, especially when your clan got swiped off."

Sasuke frowned. "I had friends. And who gives you a damn right to talk about my clan like that?"

Hinata looked at him with an innocent face. "Well, practically everyone. You're never at the Hidden Leaf Village to hear the gossip."

Sasuke growled deep in his throat. Hinata sighed and looked at him sadly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up a taunting memory for you. I know the feeling."

Sasuke was a little surprised. He only saw the mean and stubborn side of the Hyuga so far and when she apologized she seemed so innocent and caring. Just like when she was a kid.

"Whatever."

Hinata looked at him glumly and then sighed defeatedly when she knew he wasn't going to push her more. She didn't mean what she said. It just slipped out. I have to be nicer to him, or I can crush my thought of persuading him to come back to Konoha.

Squatting down where Sasuke was Hinata activated her Byuakugan and searched the perimeter underground. "We need to hurry and catch him before he escapes." Hinata stood and brushed her pants with her hands. "He's headed north, away from the village and toward The land of Wind. His main hideout is close to the border of the land of Sand, I believe from what information I have on him. We'll make camp for tonight," her head gesturing to the stars above them, "and we'll start the hunt at dawn. Sounds okay with you?" Hinata stretched and then looked at the Avenger. He seemed lost in thought.

"Hey," she waved her hand to his face, "were you even paying attention to what I was saying?"

Sasuke caught her wrist and stood up. "You know it's not polite to wave your little hand in my face when I'm thinking." Sasuke closed the space in between them. "But if really want my attention, you should just ask."

Hinata stared at him disgustedly yet being at such proximity with his body made a blush slowly creep up on her cheeks.

"I don't care for your attention. And let go of me." Sasuke obliged, a little satisfied he got her riled up in a different mood.

Mumbling, "I'm gonna go get some fire word," Hinata fled out of their campsite.

Sasuke smiled to himself while grabbing a couple kunai for fishing. She's an interesting one. And the weird part for him is that he enjoys her company. He was even willing to go through the trouble to stay and work together to capture the man. Sasuke didn't remember the last time her actually wanted to work with a person, especially a girl. She's different from any girl I've known, he thought and fled to find food into the darkening night.

Thank you everyone for viewing, reviewing and liking this story! I really appreciate it. When I post up a chapter and see you guys love it and review I get all happy and it makes me want to write even more. Even though its not professional with all the grammar and all the junk... sorry for not showing a lot of sasuhina but in the upcoming chapters you'll have your fill :) chapters will like come out every couple of days because I can't wait to put them up and see what you guys think and you guys can't wait..;) I only have a couple of reviews so far but its nice to know someone enjoys your stories you put effort to.. Well enough of me jibbering, please review and wait until the next chapter comes up. It's a doozy!

Love and farewell,

Narutoimagine01


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter five**

**Caught up In Memories**

**Hello my my fellow people! ooh, i sound so formal... anyways I am posting this REALLY long chapter! i wanted to wait a day or two but i am going on a road trip and most likely wont have the time nor internet. so here comes your fill. please review, like, favorite, yadah yadah.. oh and if anyone one or every could give your opinion on how long the chapters should be.. she i write them long? short? well, without further ado, i present Chapter Five!**

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**Hinata didn't know what came of her. Her attitude and behavior towards the Uchiha was like no one else! No one rattled her up to cause her to spat and get all snappy. And to think he'll actually agree to come back to the village. **

**Walking deeper in the forest, Hinata found herself tumbling in her thoughts. What was she doing?! Letting the Uchiha come along? It was her mission and hers alone and counting how it's going so far, she's failing miserably. She leaned against a tree trying to figure out the mess. **

**What made me think into letting him? Hinata thought while biting her lip and shook her head. **

**No, its perfect he's here. Naruto won't have to feel so down and sad without his childhood friend. After all, I promised to bring him back. **

**Finishing that thought, Hinata remembered why she was wandering in the forest in the first place. Seeing some good firewood, the hyuga walked up and started grabbing and stacking as much as she can. Right when she finished, a loud thunder was heard throughout the forest. This caused Hinata to startle and drop most of the wood.**

**"Not good, not good!" She thought frantically.**

**Picking up as much as she can, she started running back to camp.**

**Sasuke sat impatiently. It was nearly twenty minutes ago he finished fishing but only succeeded to catch two fish and the Hyuga was no where to be seen.**

**I swear if she's in trouble... Before he could finish his thought, the bluette appeared with arms full of wood with a flustered expression. Her eyes were big and panicked. **

**"Finally, you came. What the hell took so long?" **

**Before she could answer, thunder and lightning scattered and she jumped. **

**"P-perhaps we better find shelter, she spoke nervously.**

**Sasuke looke up to the sky to see dark clouds looming in on them. "Hn."**

**Grabbing the fish that was in a small bag and his pack, he barely noticed the heiress grabbing her bag at the speed of lightning and before he knew, she grabbed his arm and started running. "Che, wait up woman!" Trying to finish putting the bag over his shoulder he looked on her and started running properly so the hyuga dropped his hand to get a better grip to the wood she was holding.**

**_Please hurry, please hurry_. Activating her Byuakugan she searched any nearby shelter. Seeing a cave about half a mile away, she found herself getting relieved.**

**"There's a cave not to far. Lets hurry. I think we'll make it before it rains. "**

**As if on cue, the rain started to pour heavily. Great. **

**Sasuke couldn't help but smirk. She was afraid of thunder. It's a first to see a kuniochi that done many bloodshedding fights and thunder gave her the scare? _She's definitely an interesting one. Maybe i'll tease her about it later._**

**Reaching their destination point, Hinata jumped in the cave and searched it. It was not to small or to big. It space can easily can fit three people. Tossing the wood in the center of the cave, she took out two Kunais and rope. Tying the rope to one kunai, she stuck in deep in the wall. Doing the same to the other she turned and saw Sasuke moving a boulder to cover the entrance partially so the rain won't get them went. After he finished he did a single fire jutsu and lit the wood up. Flames engulfed and danced against the walls, lighting the cave up. He then put the fish on sticks and angled them so they can cook without burning against the fire. Thunder erupted again the sky and she yelped. Sasuke turned to her.**

**"Afraid of a little thunder?"**

**"Ah, m-maybe a little..."**

**Sasuke scoffed. "Your a kuniochi that seen and fought war and thunder gives you a scare?"**

**"It's was a childhood thing! No one helped me overcome it since my mo-," Hinata cut herself turned away.**

**She didn't want him to see her in a mourning breakdown. Sasuke looked at her and prayed to Kami that she wouldn't start crying. First of all, it was annoying and second he didn't know how to comfort a crying woman. But looking at her, he did feel a tug at his heart knowing she lost her mom at such young age. Just like he did. **

**Hinata calmed down somewhat and straightened up. Now's not the time for grieving.**

**She checked the rope that was strung over across the cave. She turned to Sasuke. "It's best for us to take off the layers of wet clothes so they can dry and so we won't get sick." **

**Sasuke nodded. He started taking off his pants to reveal shorts he had underneath. Taking off his shoes, he then started taking off his shirt but stopped. Hinata had her back towards him and she already took off her jacket(not her purple one, it was a light jacket) and shirt and stood in a black, snugging tanktop and mid-thigh shorts. He could help but look at her petite figure and wonder why'd she hide it. Sure when he saw her with Hiruku back at the bar, she was revealing a good amount of skin but didn't pay too close. Now he sat there, staring at her body more closely. Her skin was pale but had a rosy tint in it and had the perfect hourglass figure. She was the perfect size in her backside and front. Any man would have wanted a woman with that figure. Sasuke WAS a man. Taking his shirt fully off to reveal his bare chest, he picked his clothes up and walked to the line where the Hyuga just finished finished hanging her clothes. **

**Hinata walked away when she saw Sasuke stand beside her and hang his clothes. She sat down by the fire, hands coming up for warmth. She stole a quick glance at the Uchiha but couldn't bring herself to look away. His back was lean and muscular and she could tell her was darker than her. Sasuke turned around and she quickly turned her head away, not trying to count the scars that ran throughout his body and holding in her blush. He sat down across from her, looking at the fish cooking. The white eyed girl started digging through her bag and found some rations bars she packed for the mission. She offered one to the shinobi in front of her and he took it. Their fingers brushed and both of them felt something in their stomachs.**

**_I'm just hungry_, she thought brushing it away.**

**Sasuke thought a cold might be coming up on him.**

**They sat in silence, only listening to the crackling wood and the rain pouring outside. After finishing her bar, Hinata wrapped her arms around her knees that were tucked into her chest. She was partially dry but it was cold without the layers she had in earlier. She looked over at Sasuke, grateful she wasn't a man. If she had to sit bare chested, she surely would have gotten sick.**

**Sasuke eyed her with a little pity. She was all tucked in and her teeth were chattering non-stop. He was used to the cold. After all he was always underground or in a hideout away from sunlight when he was with the crazy Sannin. Can't have her freezing to death here, he thought and got up.**

**He walked to her, Hinata not really paying attention. When he sat down behind her, she looked up curiously but didn't have time to respond when the Uchiha grabbed her from begin and pulled her close to his chest, his back against the wall of the cave. Hinata panicked of their sudden closeness. She tried to wiggle out of his embrace.**

**"L-let go of me!"**

**"Stop moving, Hyuga. You're freezing to death and body heat is the only way you won't die from coldness." He cocked his head toward hers. "And don't get any ideas. I don't like you that way."**

**Hinata stopped struggling. He was right. Body heat was an effective way for not freezing half to death. But with did muscles and chest against her back, she had to wait a few minutes to get herself from thinking some thoughts in her head. Still a little red for her blushing, she calmed down in his hold. She felt a lot warmer despite the fact his skin was almost as cold as hers.**

**Sasuke sat and tried not to take deep breaths considering he was sniffing the hyuga. Herbs and lavender._ Did she always smell like this?_ He usually hated perfume but he knew if it was perfume it would have faded off from the rain which meant it was her natural scent. It was rather...soothing. Both of them sat, staring at the dancing flames, waiting for fish to cook.**

**"Sasuke-San, can I ask you something?" Hinata spoke softly, breaking the quietness of the cave.**

**"What is it?"**

**"It's about you. Well it's about your revenge."**

**Hinata felt him stiffen a little. He was surprised by such a question.**

**"I'd rather not talk about it."**

**"Please?"**

**"Why would you care to know?" he stated gruffly.**

**Hinata sighed. He wasn't cooperating yet she knew he wouldn't.**

**"Lets play a game. I ask a question about you and you can ask a question about me."**

**Sasuke stared at her head. "Why would I care to know anything about you?" **

**"It doesn't just have to be about me."**

**Sasuke thought about it. Why was she so curious? "Fine but some questions I might not answer if it gets personal."**

**"Fine."**

**She sat there quietly. Sasuke raised a brow and was about to ask if she would tell him a question when a soft voice cut him off.**

**"What's it like... to live for revenge and in the darkness?" **

**Sasuke sat there for a few minutes. He knew the answer but hesitated to say it.**

**It's, hard, painful...lonely... but it's what you deal with in order to reach your goal."**

**"Then why do you out yourself throught that pain?" She questioned.**

**"To get power."**

**"Did you get your power? Your goal?"**

**"...I did."**

**They sat, saying nothing for a few minutes, each in their own thoughts.**

**"What are you going to do with your life now?"**

**Sasuke immediately answered, "Live life with no regrets."**

**"Can you... live that kind of life in Konoha?"**

**"No. I cant. "**

**"Why not?"**

**Sasuke frowned. "The village. They made ita-" he cut off. "It's because of the village."**

**Hinata knew he was not telling the whole truth. But she knew what he wanted to say.**

**Hinata started playing with the ends of her hair that was hanging close to her face. "I know about Itachi."**

**Sasuke growled in his head. "How?"**

**"How what?"**

**"Don't play stupid. How did you know about Itachi?" His voice edgy.**

**Hinata closed her eyes. "I'm supposed to be the next heir. It was destined for me to learned every nook and cranny in the past, which was a pain in the butt," Hinata said in a joking voice but went straight to serious. "Only me few other people who it including the hokage. No one from my clan knows the real past of your brother."**

**"...oh," he muttered. Good thing no one else knew. Itachi wanted to keep it a secret and Sasuke promised he wouldn't. He knew Naruto and Kakashi knew but he could count on Naruto not to spill the beans. He hoped.**

**"Now I've got a question."**

**"Okay."**

**"Since your learning all about the past, that means you will be clan head soon, correct?"**

**Hinata hesitated for a second. "I will be."**

**"When?"**

**"Next year on my 19th birthday."**

**"I see."**

**Hinata burrowed her brows. "Why are you so interested in my clan?"**

**Sasuke smirked. "I'm just trying to fit the pieces together. Last time I heard, you weren't strong and confident to be the leader and you're sister was to be heir."**

**Hinata looked down to her lap. "She is still considered the better heir. But they have decided to give me one last chance. I can't blow it. I have to prove that I wasn't the kid I was in the past. Though secretly, I had hoped she would become heir."**

**"And what? Lose your fathers pride and honor?" Sasuke noted.**

**"I wanted to show him a different way I could show that I'm not a disgrace."**

**"And how was that?"**

**Hinata fiddled with the edge of her tanktop. "Ah, it was just a silly thought of mine..."**

**"Tell me."**

**Hinata turned her head to the left, hiding her face with embarrassment and sadness. "You'll laugh."**

**Sasuke raised his brow, thinking what she wanted to do but held it off. "I won't. Promise."**

**Hinata turned her face to him and gave him the exact look she gave him when he made a promise earlier today. Sasuke stared amused. **

**"Still don't believe me?"**

**Hinata's lip twitched upwards a little, trying hard not to smile. "Maybe."**

**"Well then, you're just going to have to believe me." Sasuke looked a thee and she could have sworn he was almost pouting. **

**Hinata faced the fire again. Taking a deep breath she muttered, "I wa..a be an A... ..."**

**"What?"**

**She muttered again but he couldn't understand.**

**"Che, speak up woman!"**

**"I wanted to be an ANBU Captain!" She yelled and buried her face in her palms.**

**Sasuke was more than surprised when he heard this. ANBU CAPTAIN? He had no doubts she could MAYBE make it, but it didn't really...suit her.**

**"Anbu?"**

**Hinata nodded in her palms. After a weary silence she lifted her face and peered at sasuke. He wasn't laughing. In fact he had the most serious face she had ever seen on him.**

**"You..you're n-not laughing," Hinata inquired.**

**His face softened a little. "It wasn't funny. You really wanted it and there's nothing to laugh about." **

**Hinata scoffed out loud. "Well, I was expecting you to say I was weak and a woman can't be an ANBU Captain."**

**"We're you going to back yourself up if I did say that?" **

**"Of course! Anyone can be anything if they put their mind to it!"**

**"Hn." **

**The dark haired woman looked at the Uchiha and whe. She saw he wasn't going to say anything else, she signed and turned her head. **

**Sasuke was deep in thought. He didn't know why but he was actually impressed by her determination. Being ANBU was a big job and when he was at the village, he declined on two reasons:**

**One: it was a pain but it would prove he's a worthy shinobi.**

**And second, he didn't want to stay at the village. He didn't want to take the exact same job Itachi took as ANBU leader which led him to be an enough trusted warrior to sacrifice his life and clan to.**

**Clearing his thoughts, he looked at the girl in from of him. Aware of their game they left off he asked, "Who's turn is it to ask the question?**

**"Ano, it's my turn."**

**"Hn."**

**"Do you miss naruto?" She immediately asked, like the question was already on the tip of her tongue. Flooded memories of the blond hyperactive ninja came to his head and smirked. "A little." **

**Knowing sasuke did have feelings for naruto as a friend, better yet a brother, made Hinata smile. "How about you?" "What about me?" "Do you still love the guy?" Hinata closed her eyes. " as a friend yes but I don't harbor the same love I did as a child. After all, he is living happily with Sakura now. You already know that." "Oh right, I forgot." **

**Sasuke peeked at Hinata to see her eyes closed with a somewhat unpeaceful look on her face. "But you still would have wanted Naruto and you to be together. Right?" **

**Hinatas face scrunched up at and annoyance and opened her eyes. "I think it's my turn to ask the question."**

**Sasuke leaned back, a little unsatisfied that she avoided the question. Why would she still love an idiot like him when he left her for Sakura? He didn't know anything better at love than Naruto so it didn't really matter to him. Did it?**

**"Alright, go ahead."**

**Hinata took a moment to think and asked, "How did you get this mission sasuke-san?"**

**He shrugged. "Needed money."**

**"So you look for people who have bounties in their heads?"**

**"Hn." Silence. "How bout you?" **

**"Hmm?"**

**"How did YOU get this mission?" He asked wonder in his voice.**

**"Ano, I just got it."**

**"And you agreed to act miss hooker and kill a man." **

**She turned once again to look at him. "It wasn't my first."**

**"First what?" Hinata turned away hoping he didn't see her blush rising to her cheeks.**

**"A-as a prostitute," she said softly. **

**Sasuke chuckled a little. Hinata felt the vibration against her back and made her blush even more when she remembered what position they both sat at. "This is the first time I heard you stutter."**

**"I guess." **

**"How DID you get rid of your stuttering?"**

**Hinata face showed no emotion. "It took a while but it I only tend to do it when I'm extremely nervous."**

**"You don't stutter around naruto anymore?" **

**Hinata shook her head. "There's no need. I don't love him." Hinata didn't want to talk about Naruto again. She was over him but she still had affection for him but only as a friend. If she knew anybody that had a long time love on someone but said they didn't, she knew somewhere in their heart they have a deep connection. Just like she did with naruto. She didn't want to admit that. She knew if she did, she would feel like crap all over again. Sasuke still pushed her.**

**"You know, it's not good to lie about yourself."**

**"I'm not."**

**"I can tell your still sad." Hinata stood leaving Sasuke's embrace. She instantly felt cold and would have loved to get back into his arms...but only for warmth. Sasuke was about to force her back but decided not to. It would get to awkward.**

**"The fish is ready." Hinata grabbed a medium sized fish and sat across from Sasuke. The only thing between them was the fire. Sasuke reached and grabbed the more larger fish and bit it. He chewed but instantly stopped when an identified a different taste that hit his tongue. "Did you do something to the fish?" **

**"I did. I added a little seasoning, that's all. You don't like it?" She looked nervous.**

**Sasuke smiled at this. "It's delicious. You carry seasoning to all your missions?"**

**Hinata smiled back joyfully, looking relieved. "I do. It's either ration bars and pills or fish. We sticked to the fish and I made a seasoning to get rid of the boring taste. Everyone seemed to like it and I don't remember the last time we had to decide whether to eat fish or pills." **

**"We?"**

**"My team." **

**"Ah." **

**"You remember Kiba-kun and Shino-kun?" The white eyes heiress asked. A shaggy dog breathed boy and a bug guy came into his head. "Yea, a little."**

**"Lately I haven't been able to go on missions with them. It's always a mix up. Last mission I went on with Shikamaru-kun and Chouji-kun." **

**"How was it?" **

**Hinata laughed softly. "A little weird to be honest." **

**"Not as weird is it with Lee and Gai," Sasuke countered. Hinata laughed out loud, her laugh ringing throught the cave. He couldn't help but think her laugh sounded like bells.**

**"You're right. I never had a mission with him but I did with Neji and Tenten." Ah, the Hyuga from the lower branch. Sasuke never fought him but if he did, it would be an interesting fight with both bloodline limits. A sigh made him escape his thoughts.**

**"And how was that for you?" **

**"What?" She asked puzzled by the question.**

**"The mission with them." **

**Hinata turned her face away. "I-t was okay." Sasuke cocked his head a little, interested on what mission they went on that made her stutter. **

**"You're lying. You started stuttering." Hinata turned red. **

**"Fine I'm lying but I won't tell the story." Sasuke frowned but instantly turned into the smirk. **

**"We're still playing the game and since you didn't want to answer my last question, it's still my turn. So what happened?" Hinata looked at him, a horrid expression on her face. **

**"Y-you cheater!" **

**Sasuke chuckled. "Hey, you're the one who brought up the game so play it fairly." Hinata closed her eyes and sighed. She promised Neji she'll never breathe a word to anyone but he did tell Lee so its fine telling it to Sasuke.**

**She looked at the fire and Sasuke couldn't be more intrigued on how the flames scattered in her pupil-less eyes. They were so white but he noticed if he looked close enough he'll see a tint a lavender in them. She then looked up at him with an you -leave-me-no-choice expression. **

**"Well I'm listening," he said with a devious smirk.**

**Hinata let out an exasperated sigh and started filling in the story that gave her the creeps. **

**"This happened around the time when Naruto just became hokage. Missions were overloading and like I said before we always got mixed up from out teams. It was me, Neji and Tenten and we had to get rid of a trio that call themselves the "righteous men. They robbed and caused havoc in many little villages and towns and someone finally decided to step up and deal with them. They came seeking help into the neighboring land, which was us." **

**Hinata leaned her back against the walls, while subconsciously rubbing her arms. Sasuke took notice of this. "Tsunade asked us three to stop them immediately before they decide to take on bigger villages like ours. We left the next morning and reached our destination close to sunset in a little town that was mostly deserted because everyone who could, fled when the trio came..." Hinata trailed off, looking on the ground now instead of the fire. **

**"Well what happened next?" Sasuke asked. **

**"Let's just say Tsunade didn't read the scroll correctly from the beginning." **

**"How so?" **

**Hinata smiled. She was really in awe to see the almighty Avenger get told a story. She almost giggled it out. Plus she was happy he let the Naruto topic go.**

**"The mission was to grab their attention. Tsunade said anyway that the men could be REALLY INTERESTED in. This specific mission was to be a three girl squad." Sasuke looked at her with a puzzled face. Hinata let out a giggle. "We were suppose to seduce them." **

**Now Sasuke smiled. "How'd Neji handle it?" **

**Hinata looked up in thought but grinned. "Oh, you should have seen his face. It took me and Tenten 30 minutes of prusuading." **

**"What made him go with the plan?" **

**Hinata smirked with a mischievous glitter in her pale orbs. "We'll, since you didn't stay in the village Neji was chosen to be the next Anbu captain but he needed to show himself worthy by completing every mission that was tossed at him. And PLUS he needed approval of the head council and since I am next-to-be head clan leader, I participated. **

**Hinata laughed heartily. "When I told him that if he didn't complete this mission I will be voting no in his ranking. He dressed in those clothes faster than I could blink! Ahh, what a memory." **

**Sasuke leaned his head back against the wall. He was actually fascinated by the story. He usually liked the silence and hated talkative girls but when she spoke it was completely different, it was so interesting and with a voice like hers, he could listen all day. "So you completed the mission successfully?" **

**Hinata started fiddling with a stick that held her fish not too long ago. "Yea it was successful. It took a while to teach proper woman manners and he didn't talk much which caused one of the trio to really like "her" since he really like shy girls." She closed her eyes for a moment. "Good thing I was already over my shyness." **

**"Good thing?" Hinata opened her eyes and stared at him with no emotions dancing in her eyes. "He started moving in on Neji and Neji of course had to play along. He took Neji to a separate room and tried to...well you know..." Hinata put we knees to her chest, trying to get some warmth after she left Sasuke. "If I was in there with that man, I would have.."**

**"What did he do?" Sasuke commented with a hint of worry and seriousness.**

**The bluette buried her face into her knees. "He instantly tied Neji up and decided to take advantage. They were chakra ropes which sucked almost all the chakra out of Neji. He has more chakra than me and I knew if I was in there I would have been hopeless. Me and Tenten started to worry so we killed our two men and went to Neji. Right when we came in we say Neji slice his throat open and killed him." Hinata looked at him in the eye. "I don't even know how Neji escaped. Those ropes sealed all his chakra out and yet he.." Hinata laid her head down. "After that day, I never stuttered once. I held my ground and knew I needed to get more confident, more power, more strength..." Hinata stretched and looked at the crack that showed the outside world. It was still pouring heavily but she never heard thunder again. Was it the talk with Sasuke that let her forget about her fear? But right when she finished talking, lightning and thunder streaked the sky which caused her to get her guard up, kunai in hand. Sasuke smirked at this. **

**"You must be really scared." **

**"You better not make fun of me." **

**"I won't...maybe." **

**Hinata rubbed her temple with her two fingers._ Man, he sure can get annoying._ But it's was really, really shocking on how he's acting toward me. Hinata looked at him. He was staring at her and she couldn't tell if he was just thinking and staring or staring and thinking of HER. She blushed madly and sat down back to her spot. Why is she acting like this? She only blushed madly when she was in love with Naruto. No one made her blush. There was only one explanation. She was going soft. Feeling cold, she scooted next to the fire but it didn't help. The wood she got was almost all burned up and going outside for more was not an option. "Great," she muttered. **

**Sasuke took notice of this and stood up and walked to the hanging clothing. He grabbed his clothes then hers next. Tossing it to her, he mumbled "get dressed." **

**Hinata looked at him with confusion but didn't question him and did what she was told. The clothing was almost dry which was good. She didn't think she could last in her tank top and shorts for another ten minutes. The Uchiha was waiting for her to finally get dressed and sit down before he made his move to get behind her again. But this time she didn't struggle. She sat still but relaxed and engulfed the warmth of his body. She almost sighed contently. He subconsciously snuggled closer to her bringing his face into the nape of her neck. That's when she squealed and started squirming. **

**"Stop moving, he muttered, hot breath going down her neck. She stopped moving but was still tense. _That got her to sit still_. After a few minutes she finally relaxed into his arms and after a few more minutes, she fell asleep in oblivion. Sasuke took another smell of her hair wondering if it was even possible to have such a loving scent. He shifted to get into a better position but as soon as he moved, he froze. **

**Hinata started shifting around but didn't wake. She just snuggled closer to the warmth of his chest and curled into his embrace and mumbling something softly.**

**A smile smile tugged at the corner of his lips and laid his head down, facing the ceiling, playing back the thoughts of their earlier conversation. Her questions about him got him into thinking. Did she come all this way to take me back to the village? Or did she stumble upon me accidentally. He snorted quietly. Not a chance. He wasn't going back to the village unless he needed a good enough reason too and the only was was...**

**To bring back the Uchiha clan. **

**That was his goal now, since he killed his brother and helped stop the war. He traveled around listlessly but he still needed to do one more thing but one thought popped in his head before he fell into a deep sleep.**

**"Who will be the one to help me repopulate the great Uchiha clan?"**

**He looked at the dark bundle in his lap before closing his eyes. **

**He smiled. Perhaps, he knew...**

* * *

oh you evil bastard, SASUKE! whoops i must mind my language.. Forgive me... SOOOOOOOOO, did you like it? Huh? HUH? ... please review or i will write even dummer thoughts...

Love and Farewell,

Narutoimagine01


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Here's chapter 6 for all y'all! This bloody chapter is nearly more than 7,000 words! What was I thinking! Ah well, my head is full of garbage. review and favorite.. Makes me happy :)

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Chapter 6

Memories to be Discussed

Sunlight was streaking into a certain cave where two dark haired shinobi slept like they never slept in years. Oblivious of what time it was, not one of them got up from their mighty comfortable position.

Hinata hugged her pillow. She took a deep breath. What was this smell? It was so..good. It was fairly hard for a pillow so she decided to fluff it up with a nice punch. Without opening her eyes, she swung her arm in a dead shot where her head was a few seconds ago. A loud "umpf" was heard and she flicked opened her eyes. She looked up to see a man. Not just any man. Uchiha Sasuke. Memories flooded back to her brain and realizing what she just had did, she jumped up to her feet and went to the opposite wall, her back to it.

He fell on all fours, coughing."What the hell was that for?!"

Hinata stammered for a bit before yelling, "I thought you were a pillow!"

Sasuke rubbed his sore chest, amazed what strength she had. He was glad she didn't use chakra.

"Why do I have a feeling you did that on purpose," he imposed with a smirk.

Hinata's eyes widened even more.

"I-I didn't!" She somewhat calmed down and smiled a little, a small rosy tint on her cheeks. "But it's what you get for coming to me in the first place."

Ouch. "Touché."

Noticing the light outside, Hinata walked towards the entrance of the cave. She froze when she saw the sun in the sky.

"No way..." She spoke quietly.

Finally getting some life back to his numb chest, he grunted, "What?"

She twirled around eyeing the Uchiha in disbelief.

"We slepted in! It's almost noon!"

He eyed her suspiciously and walked up to her. He looked up to the sun. "Hn. You're right." He stretched. "Well, can't do anything about it..."

"Anything?" Hinata sped walked throughout the cave, it was to small for running and picked up all her belongings and stuffed them in her bag. She turned to see a closed eyed Uchiha leaning against the walls, his arms crossed. What was he doing!

"Why aren't you packing? At this pace we'll never make it by sundown!"

"Will you calm down, woman? We haven't eaten yet and i'm not traveling on an empty stomach so no need to rush. If we need we'll make due camping again for another night."

He fixed his posture and left with his sword and kunai. _Guess he's going hunting._ Dropping her bag, she sat down heaving an exhausted breath. She doesn't remember the last time she slept in so long. She would wake up early for training or studying her clans politics for her position. Some nights she would be awoken by nightmares... She shook her head. Those monsters in her dreams can't do anything to her. She was safe in her village and home and for some odd reason she felt safe in Sasuke's arms... Hinata's eyes widened and a good red tint fled to her face. What was she thinking! The Uchiha? Absolutely not! Lowering her head, she thought of the pain she went through for such things. Heartbreaking, endless tears, facing difficult facts about love...she didn't need that anymore. She knew if she didn't become heiress when she turned 19, they would arrange a marriage for her and ship her off the face of this country and make Hanabi leader. The hyuga girl would never love the man she would get an arranged marriage. It was obvious they only wanted to marry the heiress for their own pleasure. She vowed the day she saw Naruto propose to Sakura, she wasn't gonna let any man enter her thoughts or better yet, her heart, even if it killed her. Including the Uchiha.

Sasuke sat at a boulder next to the river he fished only yesterday. He had a fishing rod made of stick with thread hanging and a worm as a bait. He knew he didn't have a chance in catching anything but he sat there. This was his first in many months sleeping without waking up screaming or being haunted by memories of bloodshed and pain. He shut his eyes. He remembered the moments too much. It replayed so many times in his head he could draw it out. It killed him for his memories but he always pushed himself into thinking it was the consequence he needed to face in order to get his power. I have my power now, but what can I do to get rid of this? He frowned. Why did sleeping with the hyuga get rid of his dreams? Did she drug him? No, he knew the feeling. He purposely gave himself stimulants to sleep numbly but every time he woke, he had serious headaches and pains just like from a hangover. He quit that.

He sat up and walked away from the river. Why did he feel like taking his time? Better yet, why was he with the Hyuga? He could easily track Hiruku down as kill him. But something was pulling him towards her. A feeling that he couldn't shake off. He corrected himself. It's just the bet we made. He knew he would never make a bet and give up.

He shuddered. I must be rubbing off Naruto. He cleared his thoughts and realized he hasn't even moved a couple feet away from the river. Damn it stop daydreaming, but he still walked slow as molasses. Was he just lazy or was he looking forward for the time he could spend with a person who he actually enjoyed spending time with?

Small footsteps traveled throughout the cave. Where is he? Hinata stopped her pacing and sunk down to the ground. She was already behind on her mission and he's taking his time! _I'm suppose to be traveling back home by now and the hokage... _She darted up at realization and ran out of the cave. Biting her thumb she flicked a series of hand signs. Summoning Jutsu! With a cloud of smoke a messenger eagle appeared. Grabbing the empty scroll and ink feather she wrote a message. Finishing off, she put the scroll in the eagles best and summoned him off. If she wanted to finish this mission AND bring Sasuke back, she'll need time.

Returning from his hunt, Sasuke saw an eagle in the sky thinking he could shoot it down for breakfast. But then he saw it wasn't an ordinary eagle. A messenger eagle... headed to the Leaf village and it's starting point... Sasuke growled. He quickened his pace towards the cave thinking how he could handle this situation that was set up from the start.

Humming was heard when he reached the cave. Walking up slowly but not completely reaching the cave, he hid behind a tree, camouflaging. Hinata was humming while getting a fire started outside the cave. Her humming...sounded familiar. Dismissing the thought, he needed to found out why she sent the eagle. Was she actually planning to get him captured and returned to Konoha? And they sent her, a kunoichi forging to be on a mission exactly like him, to bring him back. Was it Naruto?_ Did naruto actually think he could fool me?_ He growled softy. This caused Hinata to pick her head up and look in his direction.

"Sasuke-San, is that you?"

Damn. He'll have to think along the way. He could kill her right then and now but he had a felling he needed to wait a little. He walked out.

Hinata stood and put her hands on her hips. "I swear, you're stomach growls can be heard across the while country." She shook her dark head. "And I thought Naruto was bad enough."

The avenger grimaced. "Did you bring food?" she asked.

He tossed her his hunt bag. She peeked inside, curious why it's not fish.

"Rabbit." She looked up at him. "Couldn't catch fish?"

"Hn."

She sighed. "You were gone for almost an hour and brought back rabbit."

"Is there a problem?" He spat angrily.

She eyed him curiously. "If I knew you would bring back rabbit, I would have killed some that came earlier in my path here around the cave instead of sending you off." She smiled brightly. Actually, you left yourself."

Sasuke bit down a retort. "I'm sure you weren't bored from the time I was gone. Were you?"

Hinata smiled brighter. "Actually I wasn't bored at all. I was planning ahead for our trip since it will take quite a while."

He raised an eyebrow. "You don't seem to be in a rush anymore. Care to explain what you PLANNED all of a sudden?"

Hinata bit back her laugh. She knew he saw the messenger bird and she could see that he's fuming. When should I tell tell him that the message was a request to lengthen the mission and had nothing to do with him? She needed as much time as she could without losing his trust and so far, he has none to her whatsoever. Mentally sighing, she sat down and took out a kunai to peel the rabbits skin. The only sound between them was the scraping of the kunai. She quickly stole a glance when she put one rabbit down and grabbed another. She bit her cheek. Kami, he looked like a tiger that just got his prey taken away for him. She continued peeling until she was done and stood up, wiping her hands on a rag.

"What's the point in being in a rush today? It's nearly two o' clock and if we do hurry, we'll only reached Suna by daybreak." She raised her hands up in defense. "I just don't want to travel at night so I decided to wait another day."

"And what about Hiruku?"

Hinata looked at his face, her eyes full of mocking. "I have an idea. That is what I was planning." She crossed her arms and raised a mocking brow. "Now will you calm down? You look like you've got a stick up your butt."

"I am calm," he said irritated.

"Sure looks like it," the dark haired Hyuga snorted. "Anyways, start a fire so I could cook the meat."

"Aren't you going to tell me the plan your created?"

"First we eat. THEN i'll tell you the plan."

Meanwhile in the Hidden Leaf...

A hand slammed down on a desk. More precisely the hokage's desk, and who else sits at the almighty desk? Non other than the 6th hokage, Naruto Uzumaki.

"This is outrageous!" He stood and paced the room, ignoring the gloomy stare he was receiving from the person who brought him message scroll received by the fastest eagle they had. And that eagle was assigned to bring messages from a certain kunoichi. Hinata, what are you thinking?

FLASHBACK:

-Knock,knock-

"Come in."

A door opened and woman in her fifties came in. Standing tall and blonde hair in two pigtails she walked to the table.

"Sorry to bother you squirt, but I have a urgent message assigned to you."

Not looking up from his papers, he muttered, "What do they want?"

Tsunade sighed. "You know, if an urgent message came in, perhaps from the other Kage and you ask, 'what do they want', you're not showing a lot of respect."

Dropping his pen, the hyperactive ninja slouched down in his chair, taking an audible breath. "Sorry, I'm just stressing out at the moment."

"Still worried?"

He eyed the former Kage. "Yes, I am. I mean, come on baa-chan, you sent Hinata ALONE to the land of earth to go kill a maniac! You didn't even send back -aah!"

"I know what I'm doing kid!" She exclaimed. Naruto rubbed his head where tsunades fist just was a few seconds ago. She sighed, rubbing her temples.

"You know Hinata is capable of taking on such a mission, Naruto. And she is responsible if she messes up and you know she never gives up, right? She learned that from you."

The blonde waved his hand and lowered his head. "I know, I know. We talked about this already. But what if something goes wrong?"

"Speaking of wrong, I have a scroll about that..."

Naruto raised a brow. Tsunade hit his head again. "It's from Hinata, Baka!"

The hokage's eyes opened wide. "You serious? Give me the scroll!"

Before she could protest, the scroll was out of her hand and in his, opening it like it was the last thing to be saved. Damn his speed. A small smile lifted on her lips. Like father like son.

Naruto finally managed to break the seal and he opened the scroll...

Dear Hokage,

_Forgive me for sending such a urgent request, but the culprit has run away. My mission is not yet successful but I send a request to continue this mission. It might take days, weeks, months even to find him but he has found out my identity and I cannot have him spreading information. Please let me continue further investigation without any back-up. It is not needed. I made a mistake and I need to fix it alone. If you agree, please inform Hiashi Hyuga of my absence and Neji Hyuga. If you decline my request, I will still continue to search under my will._

_Farewell, Hinata Hyuga_

_Jonin_

_Mission in the Land of Earth_

After he read it, shock was written all over his face and didn't notice the scroll slipping through his fingers.

END OF FLASHBACK:

"Sit down naruto, you're giving me a headache!"

Naruto stopped pacing and came face to face with Tsunade, a loving friend for Naruto. She helped him so much to achieve his dream and he counted her like a grandmother. Though he would never admit that out loud.

"Did you read what she wrote?" Naruto questioned.

"Yes I have."

"And you're not possibly telling me that is the right thing to do and let her continue?" He started pacing again but sat down and put his elbows on the desk, his face in his hands.

"Naruto, you perfectly know she is well skilled enough to go on this mission! You even considered her application to be head of Anbu!" Tsunade shouted.

"I know she's skilled enough to be on such missions but I can't help but have a bad feeling about this..."

The blonde woman threw her hands in the air. "And why in the hell would you have a bad feeling about this? You never have bad feelings for putting a stranger kunoichi in this mission".

He sighed heavily. "Ah, sorry. It's just... It's just that when I send my closest friends to such missions, I can't help but worry."

Tsunade softened her face a little. "Naruto, you have to trust her. She knows what she's doing. And plus I know you care for her but you seem to express yourself more than just friends when you talk about her."

Narutos eyes darted towards her. "Baa-chan, you know that I'm married. I love only Sakura that way and no one else." He rested his head in his arms. "I knew Hinata liked me that way but I could never harbor the same love back. Not when I loved Sakura all my life..."

"Mind me interrupting, but SHE also loved you since childhood. Now who do you think had to face the harder fact? You, who got your love of your life but feel bad for dismissing Hinata off OR Hinata loving you all her life but not getting the man?" Tsunade took a couple steps to reach the table. She slammed her two hands on the surface which caused the Hokage to sit up. "A woman should never have to feel the pain of getting rejected by the man who showed her the way of the ninja and helped her grow strong!"

"And you're blaming me for this? Is that right? Am I suppose to stop loving Sakura, is that what you are trying to say?" Naruto gritted through his teeth.

Tsunade stepped back. "I'm letting you know that it's harder on a woman than it is in a man. And she handled it well. Look at her now. She's almost head leader of her clan, considered Anbu Captain and she's standing strong no matter what problem is tossed at her."

She was right. Hinata DID change. She showed more growth that the rookie nine not counting team seven. He did feel bad for not retiring the feelings but to be the one rejected? He underestimated Hinata.

"But still, in such a risky mission?" He shook his head. "I'll let her continue it but with back-up. That's final."

Tsunade looked at him with disappointment. Since the war, he grew mature and a great leader for the village, but he is still the most hardheaded Shinobi in the world.

She crossed her arms. "Hmph. So that's your answer. Very well, hokage." She bowed stiffly and walked to the door. Putting her hand on the door knob she added, "Since you declined her request, YOU will be the one to tell Neji and the old prick you declined her mission because it was too risky." Naruto stiffed his back.

"No way I'm telling them. They'll shut down my chakra points. No, you go." He begged.

Tsunade snorted. "Your fault." She turned the knob and started exiting. "Wait!" She stopped but didn't turn. That should have cracked him.

"Uuuggghhhh, you're putting me here at a bad situation."

Tsunade turned her head. "Think about it. Better yet, go ask someone for advice."

A blonde brow raised. "Who?"

"Who else? The genius of the Hyuga clan. But you better send the message today. She won't wait long." With that she left Naruto, deep in his thoughts.

At the Hyuga Compound

"Great," he muttered. He strode over to the door but before he could knock, the door was thrown open. A teenage Hyuga stood at the door, looking at him with those white orbs.

"What do you want?" She grunted out.

He dropped his hand that was still in a fist. "Is Neji here?"

She didn't reply. She kept on staring at him, making him fidget a little. She scoffed, "What a joke. You can't even look at me in the eye without fidgeting."

He fisted his hands that were at his side. "Are you insulting the Hokage? I could have you arrested."

She smirked and she crossed her arms. "Oh, I'm so scared. Without that title, you're nothing but crap."

Naruto grimaced. "I would kick your butt any day but I would like my reputation as a kind and trustworthy Hokage to stay where it is.

"Pfft, as if." The girl leaned against the doorframe. "I wasn't taking about your strength."

The blonde raised a brow. "Really? Then what?"

"You know perfectly what."

"Humor me."

The Hyuga grabbed him by his collar in one swift move. "Let me get this straight. I don't like you. Sure you're the hero of this village but to me you're nothing than-"

"Enough, Hanabi."

Hanabi turned her head, her hand still on Naruto's collar. Standing a couple feet away was Neji Hyuga.

"Hanabi-sama, how do you think your father will react if he finds out about this?" Neji questioned in a monotone voice.

She snorted and turned to Naruto. "I don't give a damn. Someone should teach him a lesson."

The genius furrowed his brows. "That's not how the future clan leader should speak. You must pay respect to the Hokage."

"Che. Neji, you perfectly know I'm not going to clan leader. Hinata will be. And even I was to be it..." She looked at Naruto. "I can't imagine what hell we would go through. After all, in a blink of an eye, he sent one person to misery and doesn't give a shit."

"Enough. Leave, Hanabi."

Hanabi gritted her teeth but she let go of Naruto. More likely shoved her hand away, making the Hokage stumble a bit. She started walking past Neji but stopped abruptly.

"I'll never forgive him for what he did to Hinata."

"That's enough. We'll talk later about this," Neji said harshly but enough that Naruto won't overhear. She stormed off and left them silent for a few moments.

"Forgive her for her behavior, Hokage-sama," Neji solemnly apologized.

"No need." Naruto hung his head. "I deserve that."

"No you don't. You can't blame yourself for what your heart feels. And trust me, Hinata doesn't blame you."

Naruto stood straight and his face became serious. "Speaking if Hinata, I need some help."

Neji's face also became serious. "What happened? Is she alright?"

Naruto looked through the hallways. "Perhaps we can go talk somewhere in private?"

"Of course, Hokage-sama."

"Thanks, Neji. And please stop calling me Hokage, he asked sheepishly. "It sounds kind of weird coming from a friend."

Neji's face softened a little. "As you wish."

_10 minutes later in a silenced sealed room_

Naruto had just finished summing up of what happened earlier in the day. Blue eyes stared to white. The white showed no emotion yet the blue was the opposite showing worry. Minutes passed and silence dragged. Neji closed his eyes and sighed quietly. More minutes passed.

The blue eyed shinobi raised a brow and his voice was filled with anxiety. "So? What do you think I should do?"

He'd didn't speak nor open his eyes after Naruto spoke. The blonde wanted to jump up and grab him by his shoulders and plead him to tell him. But he didn't. More minutes. FINALLY, he straightened his back and opened his eyes...very slowly.

"Hinata would never do anything rash. This message you got from her," he eyed the scroll in front of him, "it means she already has a plan ahead and knows that it will be successful if she continues."

Naruto relaxed. "That's a relief. I mean-"

"But if she was FORCED to write the scroll, she would be in an abnormal mess."

Naruto tensed. Neji always keeps me on my toes. "What do you mean, forced? Hinata won't let herself get caught that easy."

"I know. That's why I said what if." Neji's eyes became serious. "Hinata has been through a lot since the war. I haven't seen her like this before Naruto. She's driving herself to a point where people would have given up." He raised a brow and smirked. "We'll you would have continued and not gived up. After all, her ninja way IS the same as yours."

Naruto lowered his head and heaved a big sigh. "Yea,yea you're not the first to tell me that but STILL..."

"You still blame yourself."

I... Sigh... I don't know what to do. I cant love her the same way I love Sakura. She was always like a little sister to my eyes. Always there to make me smile and listen to me ramble and after all these years, I rejected her. Tsuande told me she had it harder and she must have cried herself to sleep ever night until-"

"She didn't."

Naruto raised his head sharply. "What?"

"She did cry but I can only use one hand to show you how many times she did." He lifted his index and middle finder. "Both times were on the same day. And that day was on your proposal."

Naruto was frozen. "Wha-what?" He managed to speak.

"You have to stop blaming yourself. She blamed herself but she used your will of never giving up and she quit. When she first cried, she cried of sadness."

The kyubi holder was barely keeping on with Neji but his last sentence threw him off. "When she first cried? He questioned. "You said she cried twice."

"The second time was happy tears. She cried because she was happy for you and she told me if you we're happy, so was she."

Naruto grabbed the edge of the table in front of him, trying to prevent himself from falling of shock. He thought Hinata was still angry at him. They rarely spoke since his wedding which was held the same day he proposed. Missing pieces were starting to link together and when they were all together he nearly collapsed. How could he be so stupid! He kicked himself mentally for his stupidness. Hinata was always happy when he did she her, but he always thought it was a mask to hide her sorrow. He didn't even realize he was doing it too. "But if she isn't mad at herself or me then-"

"She's moved on Naruto," Neji cut in. "This isn't my place to talk about her feelings to you. But let me tell you this," he stood. " Hinata started taking care of herself. She was always too nice to people around her. I'm not saying it was a bad thing but she started...realizing she needed to show care to herself. She started working harder than I've seen the Hokage work." He walked to the door, breaking the jutsu. "Going on this mission, she'll prove that past mistakes won't get in the way and plus," he turned his head, "she needs to prove to the Hokage that even she can do the unstoppable."

An "Achoo!" was echoed through deep forests.

"Bless you."

"Thank you." Hinata rubbed her nose. Man someone must be talking about me deeply or I'm just getting sick.

"So, that's the plan."

"Yup."

Both sat silently. Sasuke as he was stubborn, made Hinata tell him the plan while the rabbit was cooking. He had to admit it was a good plan yet she didn't tell all the details. It was too good to be planned out in a couple of hours which left him to presume. Presume she was on to him, trying to capture him. Hell, she could be a fan girl and trap me in her attic. He shook his head. She never DID pay any attention to him when they were in the academy. What's her plan? As if reading his mind and his curious expression on his face, Hinata smirked lady-like. My actions are starting to reflect onto her.

"Why do you look so curious?" She asked him with a mouthful of cooked rabbit.

He bit into his own, almost giving out a moan from the taste of the rabbit. He hadn't had anything THIS good since...since ever. She'll be one hell of a wife. The uchiha stopped chewing. Did that seriously come to his head?

Well you did think about her and the Uchiha clan, his conscience spoke.

He growled mentally. But it was true. He thought about her as a candidate for his clan but dismissed the thought. She was to be Hyuga leader on her 19th birthday and plus..a Hyuga as a wife? As much as he hated to say it, it would be troublesome especially since she's got an attitude. Not that he didn't mind a girl who spoke her mind.

Noting how Sasuke stopped chewing the fish she started fidgeting.

Ano, it's not good is it? Sigh, I'm sorry," she grabbed the rabbit from his hand, "I'll just cook it without all the spices I put on..."

He stood and grabbed her arm, making her freeze like a deer. "It's fine, actually it's better than the fish."

She relaxed but her face showed worry. "You sure? You don't have to lie to cheer me up, y'know."

"Like I said it's fine. So let me finish eating."

She handed him the food. Her eyes landed on his arm. He was still holding on her. A barely noticeable blush appeared on her cheeks and the raven hair boy eyed her curiously.

"Ah, Sasuke-San, would you let go of my arm?" He looked down. How'd the hell did my hand get there? He slowly relaxed his arm and dropped it to his side and sat down.

An eerie silence came upon the while they finished eating their food. More like one female was eating but the other was lost in thought. As much as he hated cold food, he couldn't help but think about the plan.

FLASHBACK:

As Hinata put the rabbit to cook, she could see from the corner of her eye a dark blur moving back and forth. She tried so hard not to laugh at the Uchiha. He could see that she was taking hher time into putting the food to cook, and it drove him mad. Why so? The almighty Avenger is impatient. Which only caused Hinata to take her time even more.

But his patience didn't withstand for long. The pacing blur stopped pacing and before she could look up at the blur, it attacked her. She barely missed a kick that was aimed for her head.

"What are you doing!" She asked while landing near a tree.

He stood from his kick, quite impressed that she was able to dodge it. "You dodged my kick." He smirked. "Impressive. But lets see you do that again." He attacked again, but this time he aimed for her chest.

Hinata activated her Byuakugan, sensing a dancing aura around him. He's quite serious. Does he really want me dead? She dodged the kick by flying to the right which caused him to kick the tree that she she stood by moments ago. This continued for a few more minutes. It irritated Sasuke he couldn't land a hit on her, but if he went on her with intent to kill, she would have been dead. Hinata also saw he didn't want to kill her. After all, he only had his regular sharingan activated, not his Mangekyo.

This is good training, she thought. But it's time to end this. Seeking chakra points, she aimed her fingers to his left shoulder. She hit successfully and caused him to fly to a tree. He hit his head while flying back, teeth clattered. The heiress landed next to him, Kunai to his throat.

"Uchiha-san," she started slightly panting, "Would you care to explain why you attacked me?"

Sasuke looked up only to get frozen. Her hair was disheveled from jumping around everywhere, and her cheeks were flushed and her eyes white as ever. But he could still see lavender, even though very little. Sasuke eyed her helplessly, thinking she looked like a mess. A beautiful mess.

"I felt like it," he managed to say.

"You felt like it..."

"Hn."

The Hyuga eyed him. "Judging on by how you attacking, you wanted to hit a fatal attack and injury me."

Sasuke stared back, saying nothing.

"You're not going to give me an answer?" She asked him. He just stared. Hinata sighed. If he wants it the hard way, then so be it. She removed the Kunai, letting Sasuke think she's given up. As soon as his hopes got up, she stabbed him with her fingers right into his right shoulder, disconnecting a chakra path. He held back a hiss, almost biting the inside of his cheek off.

"I've blocked off your chakra points on your shoulders," she explained. "Your hands won't work properly if you put too much stress on it."

"Y'know, I misjudged you. I let my guard down, and you kicked my ass."

"Well, if you want to put it that way, then sure." She smiled big. "But you won't want anyone to find out about this, don't you?"

He didn't reply but he turned his gaze away from her. She gasped. She couldn't believe it. He was pouting like a little kid! She muffled a laugh and he swiftly turned his head to see what was so funny. When he did, he regretted it. Barely.

Right as he turned, the Hyuga lost her balance from squatting on the balls of her feet. Sasuke took this as an advantage. He knew he could still move his hands so it was his chance. With his remaining strength, he grabbed the hyugas arms and pushed her down to the ground. Since she was trying to regain her balance from her fall, the result of him grabbing her and pinning her down didn't quite work right away. The pressure he put on her caused them to roll over a couple of times but Sasuke managed to be on top of her when he got control. The strain from the closed chakra points hurt like hell to him but still tightened the grip on Hinata. He looked down and saw her staring, her face with confusion and annoyance.

"You never give up do you?"

He smiled. "Not if I can help it. Plus if word got out I got my ass kicked by you... It won't be a pretty picture."

She snorted. "It wouldn't even matter. You didn't even come at me with an intent to kill."

"You're telling me that if we did go so, you'd win."

She smiled up at him. "I don't know. We never did fight one on one before."

The raven boy stared down in thought. "Hn. You're right. Maybe we can arrange something."

She raised an elegant straight brow. "Are you proposing a deal?"

"Why, you interested?" He closed in in her, their faces inches away.

She wanted to wiggle out his grasp but looking up at his black orbs, she lost that thought.

"Hmm...maybe." She looked at her arms. "If you get off me, I'll consider it."

He looked at their positions. Sasuke thought she'll freak out by his closeness but for some reason she seemed...fine with it. if it were any other girl, they would have took this as an advantage.

He dropped his grip on her wrists and started getting up. Hinata followed and brushed the dirt off her pants and shirt. She then tried taking knots out of her hair but gave up and put it up in a high pony tail. She turned to Sasuke. He had his right hand on his left shoulder, seeing he was rubbing the pain away but his hand wasn't moving. Instead, he was eying her deeply. VERY deeply.

She walked up to him slowly and raised her hand. He didn't blink. She then started waving her hand across his face. The dark shinobi blinked into the present and grabbed her thin but dangerous arm. "You have a problem with waving your hand across my face, do you?"

She yanked her hand back putting it on her hips. "You seem to get into deep things in your head every now and then. What else am I suppose to do?"

Stop entering my thoughts, he wanted to reply but bit it down. "Use your head and figure it out." She didn't know he was admiring her with her hair in a ponytail. Some strands hung next to her face making it more admiring.

He tugged on a loose scowled and swat his hand away. "Stop pulling. Have you never seen hair before?"

He pulled again on a different strand making her a little angry. He then put his hand down, a full smirk on his face. "No, I've just never seen your hair up before. It's grown since the academy."

The anger on her face and eyes disappeared and she looked away. "Well if you never left the village, you would have noticed." She turned back to him, and stared into his black orbs. "Actually, even if you did stay, you would have never noticed me anyways. You hardly even paid any attention to your best friends."

The avenger didn't know what to say. She was right. He hardly paid no attention to anyone except Naruto and Sakura. He did though vaguely remember the Konoha 12 when it came to the chunin exams. He saw all of them while fighting in the fourth shinobi war, and they all clicked into his memories. Everyone looked the same but older. But one person looked different.

"Ne, Hyuga I have a question."

She looked puzzled. "What is it?"

He smirked. "Why was your hair so short in the first place? And what made you grow it out?"

She dropped her gaze and turned her head. "Well, there were two reasons for it."

"And they were?"

She smiled sadly yet her eyes full of curiosity. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because I do."

Hinata sighed. She vowed never to believe rumors unless she saw for herself. The Uchiha was so full of questions. Even though he barely talked in the past, but he had a reason. He was hurt. He hurt for the massacre of his clan and was full or hatred and revenge. But this Sasuke in front of her? He was different. His revenge was complete and he wished a life with no more regrets. He seemed more relaxed...more at peace...even though he was stubborn as a mule. He is full of surprises, she thought while trying not to smile. Who knew that he out if all people would remember what kind of hair she had while she was only Genin and ask why she grew it out.

She smiled a smile she couldn't hold back. "I'll tell you get off my Butt for the rest of the day. Sounds good?"

"Hn."

It was quiet for a few seconds. She looked at her hair dancing in the light breeze. "It was my father."

"Your father?" He commented.

"Yes. He asked me to grow it out. More like forced me."

"Why is that?"

Hinata looked up, her lavender tinted eyes filled with emotions Sasuke couldn't decipher.

"He told me if I were to become the Hyuga Leader, I would have to look...professional in a way. He didn't really like my low cut so I grew it out."

Sasuke thought for a moment. "But your father didn't see you as a clan heir a couple years back, why did you continue to grow it?"

The Hyuga smiled softly. "That was just an excuse for me to grow it out. When I found out the real purpose he wanted my hair grown, I vowed I wouldn't cut it."

"What was the real excuse?"

She laughed. "You're really full of questions."

The corner of his lip tugged up into something close to a smile. "Well, the sooner you tell me the sooner ill stop asking questions."

She laughed again making Sasuke smile bigger. Her laughter was soft and smooth. It reminded him a lot of his mother's laugh.

Before he can grieve she spoke again. "It was my mother. She had long hair and it was said I was an exact copy of her." Her eyes shined. "He never did tell me that he loved me or said I was a great or worthy daughter but when I found out why.." She played with a strand of blue locks. "I-I felt like I could show him some love. He left once to a mission meeting out of the hidden village for a couple months and my hair really grew through that time. I was at home making dinner since he was arriving. When he walked in, he froze and stared at me." Hinata clamped her hands together. "He didn't see me as Hinata, he saw his wife. I know so because me called me Hikari."

"Was that your mother's name?"

She nodded. "I was shocked. He never mistaken me for mother. When he realized it was me, he came up to me and grabbed my cheek, his eyes full of tears but he didn't let them fall. He said to me, 'You are beautiful Hinata,' and then he left."

Hinata sat down on a rock. "He never called me that and since that day, I've never cut my hair."

Sasuke was silent. He wouldn't think it was that complicated on why she grew it. "What about the other?"

"Hmm?"

"The other reason."

"...oh." She sat silently looking at the almost burned out campfire. "I grew it out because..." She sighed. "Well, I was...jealous."

He blinked. Did she really say that? "Well, that was the other reason." She stood. "We're running out of wood and its getting dark." Hinata started walking away only to bump herself into something. She looked up to see the Uchiha standing there, arms crossed. "You're running away."

"Am not. I told you the reason."

"I still have a question."

"You always have questions." She started walking around him but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him, closing the space between them.

"What were you jealous of?"

She didn't answer. "What were you jealous of?" He asked again, irritation stretching in his voice.

"Why would you care?" She spat trying to pull her arm away, causing him to hold on tighter though if she didn't give in soon, he will. After all, his chakra was shut down in his shoulders which caused great pain.

"I just want to know."

Hinata looked away. Why was he so stubborn! Couldn't he see she didn't want to talk about it? She closed her eyes, regretting what she said. What in earth possessed her to tell the Uchiha she was jealous by the other girls? That she wanted to be noticed too for beauty. But it never came to be. She grew her hair shoulder length and still no one took notice of her like she wanted. All she wanted was to fit in, find friends but it never happened. If it weren't for her father the night she wanted to cut her hair short again, she would have without hesitation and would have had boy-cut hair all over again. But she wasn't jealous of them anymore. She knew she was beautiful. She knew she was since it was her father who said so but she couldn't help but doubt it.

Hinata looked up to the raven haired man. "I was jealous because I wanted long hair. That's all."

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"So you were jealous of girls who had long hair. Am I correct?"

"Yes you are. Now can you please let go of my arm?"

He slowly dropped his grasp and winced. Hinata took notice of this. "Here," she grabbed him by his forearm, "Sit down on that boulder."

He sat down, trying so hard not to sigh frustratedly. Girls were so hard to understand. "Take your shirt off."

"Hn?"

"I said take your shirt off. Do you want me to help or no?"

Sasuke did what he was told. If was painful to take the shirt off over his head but Hinata helped him. Activating her bloodline, she put her delicate yet strong fingers in his shoulder and charged a full point of chakra to his path. He hissed.

"Sorry."

"It's fine."

She unblocked the path and Sasuke sighed in relief. The heiress left him to grab his shirt that was tossed away while he rubbed his sore shoulders to give away the numbness. "This was my first."

She turned to him, shirt in hand. "First what?"

He stopped rubbing and stood. "It was my first to get my chakra paths blocked off from a Hyuga." She smiled. "Well, it's good to know I'm the first."

He smirked. "Well, I'm sure it will be the last." Hinata walked up to him, stretching her hand out that held his simple black shirt that had the famous Uchiha symbol on the back.

"I doubt it. You said we might fight again but this time without holding back." She smiled. "I'm sure ill get you again."

"Well, we will just have to see, won't we?" Sasuke questioned while putting on his shirt.

"Yup," She agreed. She eyed the rabbit. It will be a while for the rabbit to cook." She sighed. "Might as well tell you the plan."

END OF FLASHBACK:

She then turned her head to the fire which was going to extinguish soon if more wood was not added. She them looked up in the sky judging it was almost going to be nightfall. "Go hunt some more food down," Hinata told Sasuke. "I'll get more firewood for the night."

Sasuke nodded his head and went to grab his Kunai pouch. He froze. For a second he thought a bird was singing somewhere but as he turned his head, he saw a dark glimpse of hair walking towards the forest and it was humming. He couldn't breathe. That song. Memories crashed into his head which caused him to topple over and fall down. The Hyuga saw this and ran to him, panicking.

She squat down touching his forehead and blabbering non-stop. "What happened? Are you alright? Is it your shoulders? I was sure your chakra was connected and-"

"Damn it, stop asking so many questions, Hyuga!" He spat out, clearing his vision.

Her anger started to boil. "W-what do you mean I'm asking to many questions! You just fell over like you were just stabbed in the heart!"

He pulled up and leaned against a tree. "I'm fine. Just got a little light-headed."

"Seems more than being light-headed," she spoke and her eyes softened. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"Heh. Looks who's asking all the questions now."

"I'm only asking for your well being," she silently said.

"So was I." Hinata went still. My well being? She looked up only to see him stand and grab his pouch. Before she could protest of him going hunting and for him to rest, he asked a question she would have knew guessed he was curious about.

"The song you were humming. Where did you hear it from?"

* * *

Ah ah? You Like? Hope it wasnt to boring for you guys... :) next chapter will be their journey to the land if Suna. Might be a little boring but love will bloom. I have no life..

Love and Farewell,

Narutoimagine01


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Hello! Here's Chapter 7! hope you like it! its shorter than the last two chapters but next one will be longer. This chapter i wanted to make them start traveling and on the hunt for Hiruku but this came into my mind so it will wait a bit. :)

Oh and my special thanks to **StopTeasing **for the lovely reviews. the suggestions are a real great help to me and it makes me happy to know that someone takes their time to write a review. Thank you once again! Love ya to bits!

* * *

Chapter 7

Hanabi's Thoughts

"What?"

Sasuke rubbed his temples. "The melody you were humming. Where did you hear it from?"

Hinata stared and was mute. Melody? Why would he want to know what song? She drifted through her memories and opened her mouth but closed it right away. She darted her gaze away from his, afraid he might see the guilt written on her face.

"I-I overhead it..." She said barely audible to his ears. "And I guess it stuck to my memory." She turned back, tears welling in her eyes. "I-I'm sorry! I n-never meant t-to!"

"Never meant to what?"

She lowered her gaze to the ground, hands shaking. "I never meant to spy. My father sent me to your-" she shut her eyes, a single tear escaping. "H-he sent me to bring a medical ointment to...your mother and when I was walking out, I...I heard it and went to go see who was singing..."

The indigo haired girl lifted her eyes to his. "It was your mother singing."

Dark eyes stared to white. Sasuke would have punched anyone who would have dared sing or hum that melody. After all, his mother sang it to him and Itachi and thinking about her brings memories of death and slaughter. He never wanted to think about it. But when the Hyuga hummed it, it brought him...peace and relaxed him, forcing the bad memories away and being filled with the good ones. Right as he opened his mouth, she turned around and ran, him barely hearing a soft 'sorry' before she disappeared to the woods.

* * *

Footsteps hollowed quietly though the hallways of the Hyuga clan. The footsteps continued throughout the clan headquarters until reached the main compound that connected with the central courtyard that only people from the main branch can train in and enter. One person though from the lower branch was allowed.

Neji Hyuga. The cursed Hyuga for the branch family. The man who was said that he died in the war. He did.

When Naruto finally managed to get his message to Obito's head, his message of never giving up and his ninja way, Obito's released his jutsu and he sacrificed himself to the hokages and was sealed away from all eternity. When his jutsu released he used Nagato's revival jutsu and brought back all those who had died in the war counting Neji. When Obito was getting sealed away, Madara tried to intervene and take over Tsuki no me but failed because of Sasuke Uchiha. Sasuke fought one on one with the legendary and won. Only Hashirama ever beat the Mangekyo sharingan user. Naruto and Sasuke were called the copycats or legendary duo because they were so alike.

Hashirama and Naruto were like brothers. Both idiots but both dreamed for peace and harmony. Sasuke and Madara were too the same. Both shared the vile of hatred and both consumed over revenge. But the younger Uchiha changed. His brother Itachi showed him the evil of Madara and the clan and he realized what a worthless clan he was in. He proved he'll make a clan worthy to be called Uchiha. This caused the Uchiha his freedom to roam where he wanted but still had to hold ties to the village. But his proof is still empty.

Neji walked next to a pillar and leaned on it. Ahead of him, a dummy was getting pulverized by an angry kunoichi who, by the looks of it, she is not giving mercy. He eyed her for a couple minutes until she gave up. More like her body collapsed in her.

Hanabi fell on her knees, panting heavily. Her anger still danced everywhere in her mind, but her body was giving up. She punched the ground. Damn him! Damn him and his stupid honor. If he wasn't Hokage, she would have killed him merciless...but she knew Hinata would hate her for it. She clenched her teeth, not bothering to slow her breathing down. How can Hinata stand him!

Hanabi was already promoted Jonin and just turned 17. Her hair grew long and silky brown and almost elbow length. She could never grow it out like Neji's hair which still hung in its very loose ponytail. She rather got jealous of his hair because it was so damn silky! He was a man for crying out loud!

The young Hyuga was observed as a strong, confident, and serious kunoichi. She was and yet she wasn't. There were times where she would break and cry for her mother. There were times where she would go run in a field or go help Konahamaru with some silly prank. And there were times where she was a serious woman aiming to be honored by her father. She was still cautious though. Hanabi doesn't know herself if she wants to be leader. At first she did.

The Hyuga wanted to be praised as the prophecy child and not Hinata. But she so regretted it. Her sister came from the war alive. She ran to Hinata and hugged her ferociously. She looked so tired and worn out but there was another feature. The Hinata she knew wasn't there anymore. Hinata didn't smile as often. Her eyes betrayed no emotion, no love. She stood against their father to take her place as leader. Their father gave her another chance and he seemed happy this time...more relieved he could. But the people in the clan viewed Hanabi as the leader. The whole clan wanted her to be the next heiress but who knew that the shy and timid first born would get out of her shy-box and fight for the spot. Hinata changed from the war and Hanabi was secretly glad she didn't see nor participate it yet.

She asked once to Hinata about it.

FLASHBACK:

"Ne, Hinata?" Hanabi muttered, her face and body away from Hinata.

Weeks passed since the ending of the Fourth Shinobi War and weeks since Naruto's marriage. Hinata was different in every possible way including today.

"Hmmm?" She answered, to busy rearranging and tending her wilting flower beds. Her new schedule and 'life' made her no time to take care of them. Hanabi did he best and took care of them when Hinata was at war but she stopped. She was to worried for her, Neji, and father to look after them. Her looking at the flowers made her think of their positions and so she trained to get her mind off them.

"Uh...um..."

Hinata looked at Hanabi. "What is it?"

She peeked over her shoulders, her eyes giving nervous emotions. The eldest walked to her and put her hand on her shoulder. "It's alright, Hanabi-chan, you can tell me."

Hanabi sighed and turned to face the beautiful kunoichi on front of her. "Sister," she dragged off. Hinata gave a gentle squeeze to push her on.

Hanabi bit her lip trying to put her question in a reasonable sentence. Finding none, she blurted out what was on her mind. "What was it like in the war?"

Hinata didn't flinch. "Why not ask Neji-nii-san or father?"

"I've already heard part of father's when he spoke to Neji about uncle being reanimated. But I...want to hear it from you."

She lowered her head, frowning slightly. It took a while for her answer.

"It...it was frightening. Enemies everywhere. But what can you expect from a war?" She shut her eyes.

"Can you tell me more?"

Hinata didn't want to. But she continued.

"People falling around you nonstop and you can't stop. You always had to be on your guard, always alert." She slowly turned her head, smiling sadly. "But you had friends to help you. To push you through and they had your back."

Hanabi laughed softly. "Yea, Neji had your back. He died because of it."

The blue haired girl frowned. "Hanabi. I want you to know this. Neji could have been dead right now."

"I know."

"If it wasn't for Naruto, Obito would have never casted that jutsu."

"...I know."

Hinata raised a brow. "Then aren't you grateful to Naruto for what he did?"

Hanabi shot her a look of anger. "Of course, I'm grateful Neji is alive! But Naruto-"

"You're not really fond of him, are you?"

"Of course not! What he did to y-"

"Hanabi..." She said warningly."

She flung her arm in protest. "I don't care! I know I promised I wouldn't talk about it-"

"Then don't." Hinata walked to the flowers again and started snipping off dead flowers that grew in a fairly large pot.

"Hinata, you..you're...ugh, how can I say this?" Hanabi grumbled while playing with the ends of her hair.

The eldest Hyuga walked back to the younger, emotions dancing slightly in her eyes. "Forgive me, sister. I've had a rough day today and I'm really glad you took the time to help me with the flowers." She took a quick glance to the flower and back to her. "You can see I barely had the time to take care of them but don't worry, I'll do a better job in the future."

Hanabi frowned sadly. Hinata patted her head. "Hey don't be so down."

"Hinata...you've changed."

"I suppose it's about time I did."

"You're different."

"I know."

"You push yourself to hard, onii-san."

"Well, I have to. Father expects a lot from me."

"Father expects you to be clan leader now. Does he know about ANBU?"

"Of course not."

Silence eloped around them. "You don't smile."

Hinata wanted to deny but Hanabi beat her. "It's his fault."

"His? Oh, you mean Naruto."

"You're heartbroken. I can see that. He didn't even tell you his feelings before prancing off into marriage." She fisted her hand. "I'd kill him for what he did to you."

"Hanabi!"

"Hinata! For once in your life, think about yourself! You are too nice and naive to turn someone off! I'll go to prison if I have to even put to death but at least ill know he learned a lesson..."

A loud smack was heard through the garden and echoed through the while compound. Hanabi's face was facing away from Hinata's, her right cheek flushed bright red.

"Hanabi! Don't you dare talk about the Hokage like that!" The blue-haired girl nearly shouted, her face showing anger.

She turned her head, eyes white as ever but can see them shimmering by the second. Hinata's face softened and she reached her hand to Hanabi to only get slapped away.

"Sis, forgive me. I...got carried away."

"You know, sis, you REALLY have changed." She touched her cheek. "It's the first for you to lay a hand on me without a duel between us."

She turned to leave but right as she did, she was enveloped in delicate arms, squeezing fiercely. "Forgive me, Hanabi! Forgive me! I didn't mean to! It's just….it's just the thought of you disappearing from my life tore me." She squeezed tighter. "I can't lose anyone else. No one."

Hanabi hugged back, as strong as Hinata, trying to hold back tears, but was failing. "Forgive me too, oneesan. I hate seeing you like this."

"I hate seeing myself too."

"I have a question for you, sis."

"What is it?" she whispered curiously.

"What made you change more? The war or Naruto?"

She escaped the firm yet comforting hold from her and ducked her head. "Both, I guess. But don't worry about it, sister." She gave her another quick hug and wiped her tears. "im fine. You should worry about my competition for the head of the clan.

"Hanabi snorted playfully. "Oh, you're on."

"Good." She kissed her forehead. "Don't go easy on me."

"I plan not to."

"That's my Hanabi." She said lovingly. And with that, she left leaving Hanabi with mixed emotions and didn't know what hurt her more; the slap across her cheek or the secrets hidden in Hinata that she wouldn't spill.

END OF FLASHBACK:

"I think that's all for today."

Not bothering to look where the voice just spoke, she stood and turned to the dummy. "No that won't be."

"You're bleeding." Hanabi looked at her knuckles. Sure enough, they were all cut up and bleeding quite heavily. She grabbed bandaging tape and wrapped it around her knuckles, blood soaking through. Neji stood there, watching as she finished. "A little blood doesn't hurt anybody," Hanabi spoke.

"And what will I tell my uncle about this?"

"I don't need to be taken care of. I'm fine."

"I know you can," he told her. "But it's still my duty as a lower branch member to protect the main branch."

Hanabi spun and stared at him, her eyes full of anger. "Protect you say? Then why in the hell didn't you protect Hinata from misery? Couldn't you do something about it since your friends with the jerk?!"

"Like what?"

"I-"

"I can't make Naruto fall in love with Hinata."

Hanabi grew silent. She knew that Naruto didn't show love to Hinata in the lovey material but she still couldn't forgive him.

"I know that Neji it's just..." She fisted her hand. "Damn! It's just that he didn't even bother telling her! He went off marrying without thinking about Hinata, about how SHE would feel."

Neji opened his mouth but got cut off. "Don't tell me it wasn't his fault. He knew Hinata liked him and he was a damn pussy to tell her he didn't like her back." Her eyebrows burrowed. "Just thinking he could break her and she forgives him so easily. I mean, look at her! She's like a emotionless robot now!"

"That's not true," Neji countered. "She still smiles around you."

She snorted in disbelief. "We'll that makes a HUGE difference. She smiled around everyone. She still does but admit it, you know it's a fake one." She rotated to the dummy, eyeing it with disgust. She purposely painted the wooden dummy orange and yellow to match Naruto. What was left was scraps and damaged wood chunks and the "face" was gone completely. Killer intent rose from her again. Pulsing chakra into her hands she charged at it. Eight Trigrams: Sixty-four Palms! Bursts of wood broke from the body and flew. The cursed Hyuga watched in annoyance. After she finished, he walked up to her.

"So you'll never forgive him..." He mumbled.

"Of course not!" Hanabi yelled out of breath. Her hair, brown and long as Nejis, started sticking to her face due to all the sweat pouring off her. Her clothing messed up in cuts and her hands dripping blood. Neji crossed his arms. If he didn't stop her soon, she'll go on a rampage.

He tilted his head. "Did you ever speak to Hinata about Naruto?"

"About what? My dying wish to chop off his..." She took a quick glance to Neji's area of his lower body. "Yup that's my wish. But no I haven't spoken to her about it. She wasn't… happy when I told her I wanted to kill him. So I went for a more nicer approach." Hanabi and Hinata both made a decision to keep secret of their conversation so Neji didn't know.

Neji stared.

"What?" She asked innocently.

"I won't say anything about that. What I meant was how she took it?"

"What do you mean 'how she took it'? She's miserable Neji! I mean when was the last time she baked us a batch of her famous Cinnamon rolls?"

He raised a brow. "Two days before she left for this mission."

She opened her mouth but closed it. "That was her first in months Neji! I mean before that. She was depressed since Naruto's wedding and she only made them couple days ago because I BEGGED her." She crossed her bloodied arms across her chest, ignoring the fact that the red liquid was seeping through her shirt.

The kunoichi leaned against the post, barely holding her. "I wanted to see her happy again. Wanted to see her doing what she loved and forget about everything."

"Would you believe me if I told you she was happy. That she forgives Naruto?"

Her white orbs widened and pushed herself off the dummy. "Never! She told me that and when she did..." She shut her eyes that were filled with pain, "I know her smiles. The one she showed me was fake. It was shown all over her face."

Neji frowned. "And since that day, you think she was like this all the time?"

"Yes!" She yelled furiously.

"And may I ask WHEN you asked her."

Hanabi thought and shrugged. "It was my birthday." She looked at him, curious. "Why would you want to know?"

Neji drew a shaky breath, trying to hold back a laugh. He walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulders. Hanabi watched him with curiosity written all over her face.

"Was it a Saturday?" He questioned.

"Yea why?"

He allowed a smile to enter on his features. "What was I doing on that day?"

She frowned. "You were in the Hospital."

"Now why was I?"

"Because Hinata kicked your ass..." Her eyes got big. Bigger than possible and her hand raised to her mouth. "She was sad because of you! You couldn't make it to my birthday party because you were in the hospital and it was her fault! Gahhh! How can I be so stupid!" She face palmed herself.

Neji backed away and smirked. "I don't know. How can you be when you're a relative to me." He shook his head. "After all, people call me a genius."

Hanabi picked up her face from her palm. "Don't take advantage of my words or I'll take advantage of something else."

"Really?"

The brown haired girl smiled mischievously and waved her hand. "Ah, nothing to worry about." She dismissed her playful face and turned sad. "But still, Neji. She's not fully happy."

The genius let out a sigh. "Not everyone can be happy all the time, you should know that. And besides, she's saving you from becoming head of clan."

The Hyuga girl shrugged . "I don't mind being heir. She'll be my right hand man. Excuse me, 'woman.' And you'll be my left hand man." She rubbed her knuckles. "Besides, if I can become head, I could get rid of the branches and we'll be just one." She laughed softly. "But Hinata will do the same."

Neji gave a soft smile. "Well that's yours and Hinata's business." He tilted his head a little. "So does that answer your anger? Do you still hate Naruto?"

"Of course I do! I just found out a simple misunderstanding."

"Thought so." He turned to leave but he had one more thing to say. "When Hinata comes back from her mission, you should talk to her. Found out if she's content or not."

"Yea, maybe. She's coming back in a couple days right?"

He stopped walking. "Her mission was delayed. She might come back in a couple of weeks maybe more."

She stilled. "Wait, that means 'I'll have to take on the next meeting with the old geezers!" She groaned. "And I was hoping I'll have a day off from them this week."

Neji smiled but she didn't catch it. "She'll owe you back."

"She better," Hanabi muttered. She looked at the dummy. Oh how badly she wanted to hit it again. Looking at her knuckles, she walked away, thinking if there was a better way to mess up the orange jerk without punching wood.

* * *

Hinata stumbled through the woods, her vision blurred with tears. The past kept coming to her, making her fell awful and sick. Why did she say that in front of him? Kami, he must want to kill her now.

She brought Sasuke's Uchiha's past up in front of him. He was emotionless, angry, arrogant...alone, sad, in the dark. She couldn't stand what pain she just caused him. She brought up a memory of his mother today and last night about Itachi. Hinata ran farther and farther, not wanting to stop. Her pulse was wild and so was her heartbeat but that didn't stop her from getting away. She needed time. She needed to calm down and try to mend her mistake.

She shouldn't have listened. She should have just kept walking and pay no attention to the voice of an angel. Hinata's foot tripped over a tree trunk. She crossed her arms for the impact but she fell down in the dirt with a spraining pain that electrified on her ankle.

Hinata laid there, crying hopelessly, feeling nothing but numbness. The Hyuga wept for the first time in months. Sasuke's mother triggered her. Triggered her confidence and her own memories. Dark hair and obsidian white eyes was what she saw. She saw her mother holding her just like Mikoto was holding Sasuke. They both sang to their loved ones, running their hand down the dark haired children. Hinata was jealous when she was a child. Jealous that Sasuke had a mother while hers was dead. When the Hyuga heiress was a child, she never liked the Uchiha kid because he had a mother. And she didn't. But when the massacre happened, she felt ashamed and regretfully, a little happy. She was a little glad that someone can share her pain about not having a mother. She wanted to come up to Sasuke and hug him saying it was alright and 'we'll get through this together'. But when she saw the Uchiha at the academy, he was cold, cut off from everyone and Hinata didn't have the courage to come up to him. She sat there, alone and so was he.

* * *

"Damn! Where'd she go!"

Flying through the trees, Sasuke activated his sharingan, trying to find a certain Hyuga's chakra but so far finding none.

He wanted to tell her it was alright. He wanted to tell her that it's fine for her to sing or hum that song. Anybody else though that would have sung it would have got their throats sliced and vocals ripped out. His mother's memories haunted him. The way he remembered her laying there dead, her gray eyes staring out to nothing but looked a she was staring at him. He couldn't handle it.

But when Hinata hummed it, the dark memories erased from him like they were swiped away completely. Only the memories of him lying in her lap, her humming heard throughout the whole compound. It brought him peace and calmness when the Hyuga hummed. It felt good to him. To hear it again, with the same soft voice, just like his mothers.

But she ran off without hearing what he had to say. _She must be beating herself about it. _Just when he was about to stop and rest, his eyes felt a flicker of chakra in front of him, though very far and reading it. The Hyugas. He jumped to the treetops for faster access and flew through the branches. Seeing that the chakra was coming closer, he quickened his pace, seeing that the energy was running low. If she continued like this, she'll die from exhaustion. He took a giant leap to another branch only to stop and almost stumble off. Ahead there were four other chakra signatures heading toward the weak one. _Shit._

He pounced on another branch in front of him. When he jumped off, a big crease was left where his foot was. Surrounding him was a purple aura, turning into a skeleton rib cage. Running faster than lightning, he went to go save Hinata, hoping he wasn't too late.

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Review! makes my heart do a little gig! :)

Love and Farewell,

NarutoImagine01


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

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Here is chapter eight! I went on another family road trip and I finished the chapter along the way.. I left all my brainstorming stuff at home and I couldn't start ttrue journey so I postponed it again but hope you guys enjoy this!

Thank you **StopTeasing, XxMelony-kunXx, BashyBunny and guests **for all the awesome reviews! Makes me smile the whole day!

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Hinata wanted to lie there, untouched for an eternity but her leg was giving out shock waves of pain she haven't felt earlier. When she calmed down from her sobs, she realized she sprained her ankle. It was not life threatening but needed to be healed. Thank goodness she knew how to deal with it.

She took of her sandal so she could heal it properly. Lighting her hand with pale green chakra, the bluette started sending in chakra to reduce the puffiness so she could snap her bone back into place. Hissing, she started digging into her pouch, and took out a Kunai and bit down tightly on the part where it would be held.

Hinata fired her hands, and grabbed her leg gently but yanked it back, causing it to snap it back into place. She bit down to the Kunai, muffling a piercing scream she almost let out. The pain eased and she loosing the grip on her leg. Nothing life threatening but I won't be able to walk well for a day or two. She bandaged her leg fully up to mid knee for better support and rolled down her pants to hide the wrapping.

A twig snapping caught her attention and she froze, the Kunai she was biting down was now in her hand, ready to strike. Instantly she activated her Byakugan and when she did, she saw a herd of shuriken flying towards her. Unable to jump away, she rolled away, inches from getting hit.

"Well, well, looks like she's already injured." A man in his late twenties came out from behind a bush, a disgusting smirk on his face. "Looks like our mission just got easier guys."

Another man and a woman jumped out of their hiding spots, all around the same age but the woman seemed oddly familiar.

The first man that spoke stood tall, as tall as Kakashi Hatake the Copy Ninja, but instead of a scar across his eye, it dug deep across his face, starting from the top of his left eye all the way down to the right side of his jaw. It was amazing his nose was still there, let alone his eye. The other man had no scar but had a nasty gash on his forearm of his right arm. His face seemed kinder than the firsts but something in his eyes screamed murder or insanity. But the woman looked different. Her hair was a dark brown, hair in a low ponytail. She was non scarred but what gave Hinata chills is how empty her eye looked. Like she blocked all her emotions under lock and key yet she didn't seem a type to run around and kill people.

They all wore similar outfits but none looked familiar to the blue-haired kunoichi.

"Aww, poor girl. Do you need some help there?" The man cooed who had the scar on his face. He took a step forward and Hinata instantly grabbed another kunai.

"Get away from me," she gritted through her teeth.

He stopped. "Eye, fiesty huh?"

"Just stop messing around and get the job done, Ishikai," the woman grounded out to him.

"Aww come on, Akari. She don't look that dangerous but she does have a kick to her." He turned his head to Hinata. "And since she doesn't look to good to fight, I might play with her for a while."

The woman frowned. "Our job is to finish her as orders from Hiruku, not mess around. And I'm a woman too. I won't stand around whole you torture the same sex gender as me."

The two bickered while the third, out of curiosity, glanced towards Hinata, looking at her features. His eyes landed on hers and his grew.

"Ey, Ishikai! Look at her eyes!"

Ishikai turned to see and his pupils grew from fascination. "Well, lookey here, a Hyuga."

Akari stiffened barely, but didn't go unnoticed by the Hyuga.

"Means she's capable of great skills right?" The boy asked.

"By the look on her forehead, she's from the main branch." Ishikai smirked. "She must be the weak eldest of Hiashi Hyuga. Not a problem we can't solve."

Hinata wanted to yell at the man, accusing her of her new reputation, but decided to stay silent. It's better they don't find out I'm stronger than they think. They'll go easy on me, she thought.

The woman started taking steps forwards to the injured girl and squatted down. Hinata wanted to stand or fight but she was merely out of chakra and couldn't do any attacks except for a little taijustsu. The woman made hand signs and before Hinata knew, she tapped her chest and all her remaining chakra was drained and sealed.

"Akari, what the hell are you doing? Just kill her," Ishikai commanded.

"Shut up, Ishikai. If Hiruku founds out his attacker was a Hyuga would he want them dead or alive?"

He thought for a moment and grimaced. "Have it your way then."

"Thank you." She started tending to Hinata's wound and the man spoke up again.

"Why are you healing her! We need her on the verge of death not full of strength!"

"Do you want to carry her all the way back?" She stood and turned to him. "Be my guest, out hideout is only two days away." He shut his mouth again and frowned angrily but said nothing more.

Akari crouched down again and unwrapped Hinata's leg carefully. Hinata eyed her suspiciously but she couldn't do anything. All chakra was gone and she felt like she was going to pass out any second. A soft whisper jolted her out of her head.

"Are you really Hinata Hyuga?"

Hinata's hair dye washed out when she and Sasuke looked for shelter and it was back to her black and blue hair. Hinata hesitated to answer but still did. "Yes. Why do you care?"

Akari's head shot up, her eyes sparking with what Hinata thought. Hope. But it soon diminished and she put her head down once again.

"Just curious why you are all here by yourself. Don't you need bodyguards to protect you or something?"

"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself," Hinata snapped.

"So it seems to be," Akari muttered sarcastically.

"You guys work for Hiruku?" Hinata questioned.

"Yes. Why?"

"Why work for him? He's part of a criminal job of pointless murdering."

Akari shrugged, taking a bottle of some smelly ointment and shaking it before putting some on her leg. "Need the money. Pays good."

"You can't be serious," the white eyes girl said to the other. "Can't you find a better job? You have a family or loved ones to think about don't you?"

Akari stopped her process. "I did but not anymore."

"What happened to them? Where do you live?"

"I live nowhere right now but I did have a home once."

"Can't you go back to it?"

"I could but they wont welcome me back with open arms," she replied bitterly.

Hinata grew silent for a moment. "Why are you telling me this?"

Akari stopped her work and clenched her fists to her crossed legs. She sat there and by the looks of it, she was trying very hard not to break her control. Akari then whispered to Hinata a name that she never thought she would hear again.

"You've changed, white-hime."

Her eyes widened like big saucers. "N-no way..." She pulled herself off the tree and tried grabbing Akari's shoulders but failed.

"Y-you're -mmph!" A hand flew to her mouth to shut her almost hollered answer.

Akari glanced at Ishikai and Fukumo who were discussing, by the looks of it, who had better kunai skills.

She looked back at Hinata, whose eyes began to water. "Don't you dare yell or talk to me like you know me, got it? They don't know who I was and they don't need to know." Her eye softened miserably, holding back tears herself. "Don't cry in front of me, Hinata, I won't hold myself back."

"It's been so long, Misuma-chan. Where have you been? Hanabi misses you and especially does-"

Her words were cut off again by 'Misuma's' hand. "Hinata, listen.

One. Don't use my real name.

Two. I miss Hanabi, too.

And three. Don't you EVER say his name again."

"But, Misuma-"

"Akari."

"Akari, please listen to me. You were never guilty to my eyes or anyone from the main branch family. But it's just some got a misunderstanding between you and, you know..."

Akari sighed. "I would return because I have nothing to fear, white-hime but I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me."

"You're hurting yourself and us by NOT returning," she pleaded. "You were like a second mother to Hanabi."

"How is she?"

Hinata smiled softly. "She grown. She just turned 17 and already jonin."

"Wow. Seventeen already? She must be a beautiful woman. And look at you, I suppose you're going to be head soon?"

"Next year, if Hanabi doesn't steal it from me," Hinata said jokingly. Her eyes grew serious. "Since you're alive, I'm going to change everything that went so wrong. Back then I couldn't do anything and when you come back to Konoha-"

"Oi, what's taking so long Akari?" The third member, Fuko yelled.

She turned her head, eyes throwing daggers to him. He gulped nervously. "Ehh, take you're time..."

She lowered her head and Hinata wanted to hug her so badly. "How is he?" She whispered painfully.

"He's fine, still guarding me as usual," Hinata whispered back.

"They didn't kill him?"

"No. Since you left, they found no reason to..."

"And how are they?" She spat out. "The old branch members?"

"Cranky as always. Always do hard to convince." Hinata took her hand and placed it on Akari's. "He misses you miserably, y'know. He doesn't say it but I can see it in his eyes."

"How is he being treated...by the lower branch family? Have they ever used the caged bird seal on him?" Her voice was filled with sadness but her head was still down and Hinata couldn't see her eyes to tell if she was crying.

"They never did. Ko has been a good shinobi and he's helped a lot throughout the clan. Ever since the war."

An imaged flew to Akari's brain. An image of her and Ko, secretly walking through the moonlight near a river. She and Ko were sweethearts. They were until they found out the one of the lower branch family shinobi was seeing an outsider.

Akari wasn't Hyuga. With her big brown eyes and hair, you could definitely tell she wasn't anywhere related. They forbid Ko to see her but he disobeyed. They visited at night, talking for a mere minute before he had to return. They were caught later on and they wanted to punish the Hyuga through the Hyuga way. Meaning activating the seal that was imprinted on his forehead. Akari begged them not to, as promised to never visit him again only to save him from misery that could have led to death. The next day she left without a note and was never seen since.

Akari's head flew, her eyes visible and if looked closely, tears were forming. "You participated in the war, didn't you?"

"Yes I did. Successfully we won, and if we didn't, we would have been living in a genjutsu of no end."

"I heard that the Uzumaki hero and the Uchiha were the main heroes." Her dark brown eyes sparkled with happiness, making Hinata feel slightly relieved. "You still love Naruto, right? I mean what am I saying, you two are probably married by now." She laughed softly but stopped when she saw what was in front of her.

Hinata sat there, staring back with a small smile but no red cheeks, or any sign of happiness for herself.

"You're half right," Hinata informed. "He married not to long ago to Sakura Haruno. You remember her? The pink haired girl?"

Akari frowned. "What happened? You love him don't you?"

"Loved."

She blinked back, confusion written on her face. "When did all this happen?"

"Shortly after the war."

Akari grew mute. Right in front of her was her favorite little girl, not little now but many years back, when she would visit the shy Hyuga and help her cook or tend her little garden that secretly grew behind the Hyuga estate.

"You're really grew Hinata. You're more strong...more sure of yourself."

Hinata snorted as a response. "Well, as you can see I'm about to be captured and brought back to the man I was to kill."

Akari's face grew cold. "That's right. I can't bring you in to that bastard. I won't let you get hurt."

"You'll really let me go?"

"Of course." The brunette looked over her shoulder and saw the two men, seeing their expressions on why she took so long. She looked back at her favorite girl and spun her fingers in many hand signs and a blue pulsing chakra floated in her palm. She gently pressed the palm to Hinata's chest and broke the seal where she earlier blocked off her chakra.

"I pulsed chakra back into your system enough for you to run away. I'll put a sleeping jutsu on those two idiots and I'll make up a story of an incomplete mission." She handed Hinata a small paper, fitting it gently into her palm. "This is the main hideout and structure. You'll need it to capture Hiruku. It's a day or two of travel but take it easy on your leg. And DON'T get caught."

"What about you? Where will you go now?"

Akari thought for a moment. "Meet me when you can in Suna. Temari secretly lets me in, since I'm counted as a missing nin and a traitorous kunoichi I can't be seen."

Hinata grabbed her hand and squeezed gently. "I'll come. Just wait for me to finish my mission."

"Are you in this alone? I thought you had back-up at least." She spoke in disbelief.

Hinata extracted her hand away. "I wanted to go on this mission alone, but it seems I do have backup."

Akari rolled her eyes. "Yea I can see that. He doesn't even bother hiding his chakra all the way."

"Yea, judging him, I was expecting him to pounce and slaughter but seeing you and me talk like old times, I think he hesitated."

"He? You know who it is?" Akari questioned.

"Yea he interfered with my mission. He had his own mission of killing Hiruku too and we joined up."

"He has a dark chakra signature. Seems familiar..."

"Well the chakra you're feeling is none other than Uchiha Sasuke."

"Seriously!?" She rose a brown straight brow. "Not bad Hinata."

Hinata gaped her mouth open. "Oh, shush up and let's get this over with." She glanced at the trees ahead of her. "Seeing his chakra, he's getting impatient."

"Yea. So on the count to three?"

The Hyuga nodded.

"One." Hinata spun her kunai.

"Two." Akari summoned chakra in her palms.

Right when they were about to say three, an incredible amount of chakra burst towards them, both barely dodging such attack.

Smoke clouded the area which made Hinata activate her byuakugan. She frantically looked for Misuma(Akari). Sighting her a few feet away, she ran and squatted to the girl on all fours.

"Are you alright, Misuma?"

"Yea ill be fine," she coughed out. "What was that?"

"I don't know."

Hinata looked up to Misuma. "Leave. Ill take care if this."

"What about my idiot teammates?"

She shook her head. "They were to close to the blast..."

"...I see."

Her eyes grew many emotions. Sadness, anger, and guilt but knowing they weren't really close, she'll get over them.

"Go," Hinata pleaded.

Misuma gave a quick hug and a peck on her white cheek. "Make it out alive."

She nodded her head. "I will."

With that last word, she flew up to the branches of the tree and vanished. Hinata breathed a sigh of relief but knew she couldn't let her guard down.

Right as she looked up, a blur collided to her chest, heaving her back to a tree. Hitting the tree, the blur attacked again. Hinata reflexes to the right missing another strike to her chest. Her vision accelerated, veins crawling on her face and lifting her palms.

As soon as the dark figure pranced at her again, she was ready. Being a few feet away, she flared her hands with energy, ready to strike with the Hyuga's famous attack. Breathing in, she striked. Eight Trigram: Sixty Four Palms!

Two knees hit a tree, a gasping breath filled the woods. Sasuke was more than astonished. The raging chakra wave came out of nowhere and he completely didn't see it coming.

You were to busy watching the Hyuga, his conscience subsided.

He growled. His conscience was damn right. The white eyed woman just sat there talking to the other woman like nothing was happening and before he knew, The woman was giving chakra back to the Hyuga. Was she an enemy? Why was she helping? His chakra was fuming and he didn't bother hiding it. Which was a bad idea because he just got mowed over by a different enemy. He relieved his breathing, hearing a woman yell an attack. Hinata.

So she survived the attack too and was fighting. Time to jump in as well. Three tiny dots swirled in his eyes concentrating on the figure Hinata was aiming at.

Before he could take another breath, the figure fell onto their knees then straight down onto their face. The Hyuga stood there, panting heavily. Seems she didn't have all her chakra returned.

She then aimed her rare eyes to his direction, an eyebrow raised. "Well, are you going to stand there all day?"

Her toying voice made him growl. He said nothing and landed somewhat gracefully next to her.

"Could have helped."

"I was assessing the situation."

"Took you long."

"You were just sitting there talking with the enemy, you could have been killed!"

"I was actually talking to an old friend," she bit out. "And why would you care if I died?"

He froze but grimaced. "If you died and I could have done something to save you, I would have had a guilty conscience. And what do you mean an old friend?"

"Nothing," she muttered.

He wanted to ground out all the information out of her but the corpse in front of him made him stop breathing. In front of him was a sand ninja.

He turned to Hinata and felt a stag of pity. Her hands were trembling at her sides, and so was her knees. But what made Sasuke's heart twinge was her face.

Her confident porcelain face was shattered and what all was left was regret and fear. She was pale, paler if possible than her skin, and her eye were as big as the moon, with teardrops dropping down, contracting on her white cheekbones.

"What have I done?" She whispered, agony sketching though her voice.

"You didn't know and you were trying to stay alive," he answered back emotionlessly.

She hugged herself and fell trembling, causing Sasuke to jump down and catch her. He caressed her body, his hand somewhat awkwardly rubbing on her back.

"It was my first time killing someone...innocent," she spoke in hiccups.

Sasuke killed many innocent and he couldn't remember his first. He did though remember his rage, his bleeding revenge cover all around him, overtaking his conscience.

"Let's go," he said changing the topic. "Before we get caught. We have a long way to Suna."

She nodded barely and tried to stand but her legs gave in. Sasuke seeing this, turned around and squatted, his hands stretched backwards. "Get on, you're in no condition to walk or run."

She don't protest and climbed on slowly and Sasuke took off, leaving a crime scene that would change the Hyuga's life.

Her life ahead was going to be tough, she never realized. Even though she participated war, she knew there was no holding back, but there was ememies everywhere so it didn't hurt her heart.

Killing an innocent...what if the man was just on patrol? What if he just wanted to help?

But why did he attack me?

She gripped on tight around Sasuke's neck, afraid she'll fall off from his speed of traveling.

Sasuke Uchiha was a murderer. He killed plenty before. Hinata only killed one and felt like crap. How could he have handled more?

He's ruthless.

Cold.

Vengeful.

She felt sorry for him. Him being full of hatred and in the dark all his life. He never knew peace and tranquility and most likely suffered through all of it.

She closed her eyes. No, he won't have to anymore. No one should ever feel this pain, especially Sasuke. The pain she was feeling right now, she wanted to forget it and wanted for no one to feel it again.

I'll help you Sasuke. I'll bring you to the light.

I promise on my ninja way and I never back down from it...

No matter what.

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Please review and favorite!

Love and Farewell,

NarutoImagine01


	9. Chapter 9

Howdy! Chapter nine is up and ready! Hope you like what I wrote in this chappie! It's a real twist in the story! Oops, that's all I'm gonna say! Enjoy and review!

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Chapter Nine

The Agreement

Hours passed and they traveled, only stopping for food or rest. Both were silent throughout the time, exchanging a few words here and there but that was it.

Hinata felt a little better, she gained all her chakra back but still felt ill. She would sleep on the Uchiha's back but only to get woken up seeing the dead ninja's face before her eyes. Sleep would come but she would stay awake. The nightmare was too painful.

The blue haired woman felt like a burden. Her lack of strength made the raven haired shinobi carry her all the way, and her stubbornness always nudged her.

"I can walk."

"I know that. But we have to be there before sundown. It's faster if I carry you."

And the topic was dismissed.

Only being a couple hours away from Suna, Sasuke stopped for a breather. Hinata slid of his back, making him sigh contently. He leaned his back against a tree, his breathing labored and sweat covered his body. The sharingan user didn't mind carrying her. He thought it was a nuisance for her to be all glum, but since the beginning of this mission of hunting Hiruku, he never had a chance to train.

Holding on extra weight was a good workout so he didn't mind. She didn't even weigh that much but if it were Sakura or Ino, he would have thought he were only putting a pound of feathers on his back. Not like I'll ever carry them, he smirked to himself. But why wouldn't he mind carrying Hinata? He asked himself.

Because she's not annoying or a hothead.

He glanced to where the Hyuga sat. Hinata's back was towards him, her back crouched and feet dangling off the boulder she sat on and her backpack next to her.

She looked better, got some color back on her face. Still, she looked like a zombie. His stomach growled and white eyes peeked over her shoulder, her eyes dull.

He stood, brushed off his pants and walked to where he tossed his pouch.

"I'm going to find something to eat. Will you be alright here by yourself?"

Of course she will, idiot. He mused. It's not like she's blind.

Instead of her answering, she walked to him, her steps still looking wobbly but held their ground. Her hand grabbed the pouch he was holding and took it out of his hands.

"I'll hunt. You rest."

"I'm done resting," he gruffed and tried to free the bag out of her grasp but she didn't budge.

"You need rest," she said again in a monotone voice, eyes staring right into his. "At least go wash up. There's a river about half a mile west from here. You won't be able to wash up soon. The land will get rough and water will be scarce. Take all of mine and your equipment there and we'll make fire there."

He bit his tongue, biting a response of him not needing to wash up. He looked down at his body, his skin all sticky from the sweat and dirt covered him head to toe.

"I'll meet you at the river in twenty minutes." She hooked the pouch to her hip. "Be done by then and leave your dirty clothes out, I'll wash them."

He was hesitant to agree but nodded. "Don't get into any trouble. If you do," He pointed to the pouch, "There's a lighting rod in there. Just pour some chakra and lighting will shoot towards the sky. It'll alert me."

Hinata nodded and started walking away, leaving Sasuke to stand for a few seconds before he turned and left in the opposite direction.

Sasuke reached the river with ease, finding it hidden behind some bushes. He undressed, carelessly throwing his dirty clothes in a messy pile before sinking in. A sigh of relief escaped his lips. A good dip in a river never felt so good. He closed his eyes, sinking into a blessed oblivion but couldn't stop himself with worry.

Knowing the Hyuga's out there in her condition, anything could happen. He didn't argue much before he sorely needed a bath.

One. He stank.

Two. He felt uncomfortable in his sticky clothes and body.

Three. I'd have to carry her and she'll feel uncomfortable with my dirty clothes and skin.

His sore muscles ached but soon grew numb under the water. Sasuke didn't notice his soon coming slumber to where he'll fall asleep in the water and how long he will.

Leaves crunched underneath black shinobi sandals. Dark hair tangled with the wind, clothes fluttering from the breeze on a kunoichi's body.

Hinata tilted her head, eyeing the big sunny sun. Almost four. Shes been gone for fifteen minutes already. Tossing a hunt bag over her shoulder, she walked to where she was to meet up with Sasuke. Her head pounded hard, throat dry and itchy, and plus she was dirty.

But she didn't care.

Her feet dragged themselves west, her eyes wandering the tall trees. A flicker in the trees caught her eyesight but she kept walking. If someone wanted to attack her, she wouldn't fight until she knew who it was. It was a dangerous thing to do but she didn't want to make the same mistake twice.

The flicker swooped down and she closed her eyes, waiting for the attack. It never came. Peeking one eye open, she saw a brown and black bird staring at her, it's head cocked to the side, as if looking at her questionably. Opening the other eye, she felt relief flood over her whole body. The bluette didn't think she could handle a fight right now without having a mental breakdown. Peering closely to the bird, she recognizes it in an instant.

White eyes stared at the bird and she walked closer to it, her hand reached out. The bird watched with calmness, not even flinching at her movement.

"You have a message for me, Zobi?" Hinata spoke, reaching for the vest around the eagle.

The eagle replied with a screech that echoed across the woods.

She grabbed a scroll, seeing it was different than the one she sent.

"I completely forgot about this," Hinata muttered to herself.

"Thank you, Zobi." She eyed the scroll, wondering what the answer might be while busily scratching the eagles head who seemed to enjoy it.

Finding no confident answer, she reached her hand that's was massaging the bird and broke the blood seal on the scroll. White smoke pooled but disappeared quickly leaving the now unlocked scroll.

Part of her wanted Naruto to make her return back home, to forget this mission. She wanted to see Hanabi an Neji miserably. The other part of her wanted to continue with the mission, to finished what wasn't cleaned and to help Sasuke.

Only one way to find out and she opened the scroll.

She read it twice then closed the scroll, showing no hint of happiness or sorrow. Giving the eagle another scratch to the head, the heiress dismissed it. The wings spread and took of in the blue sky and she walked to the river.

Veins traced her face and looked for the black eyed ninja. She looked left to right and saw a manly figure laying in the water...motionless.

"No..." She gasped and ran with all strength possible to it.

Reaching the river, she gasped for breath but her breathing hitched after what she saw. The Hyuga closed her eyes slowly and turned away. Walking to a nearby tree, she counted to ten in her head to calm herself.

She fisted her hand against the bark of the tree. That idiot. Abruptly, Hinata turned her head and grabbed a stick that was on the floor next to her foot. She flung it to a dark head that laid idly on the edge of the river bay. Hitting right on the target, the head flew up, which caused the body to tumble into the water.

Sasuke stood up from falling into the water and looked up to see the Hyuga's arms crossed, her foot tapping impatiently.

He looked at her and swallowed dryly.

"Ne, Hyuga?"

"What?"

"Did I fall asleep?" He asked.

She couldn't hold it in anymore. "No shit, Uchiha! You could have drowned!"

He frowned. "I would have woken up if I felt my mouth or nose get filled up with water."

She seemed even more frustrated, her eyes growing venomously lavender. "Doesn't matter! You dropped your guard. You could have been attacked! I mean-"

Sasuke jumped out of the water and needless to say...he was naked. His hair was spikier than usual and out of small strands of hair dripped tiny water droplets onto his muscular chest. His body changed greatly from when Hinata saw him last and she couldn't help but think how sexy he looked just now.

The Hyuga gaped her mouth open but shut it immediately and turned around, flushed at what she saw.

He raised a brow. "What?"

Hinata faced away for a moment then stood straight and turned back around, DARING not to look down but stare straight into his dark eyes.

"Umm..." She started.

His eyebrow raised some more. "What?" He questioned again.

"May you give me your dirty clothes?"

Everything froze for him at that second. Sasuke jerked his head down. Crap.

"You might catch a cold if you keep standing there," she told him.

He lifted his gaze towards her, his eyes sparkling with something horrible. Sasuke smirked at her. Suspicious crossed her eyes. He raised his hand and she followed it.

"Is that what you're looking for?"

She grimaced and stared back at him. He crossed his arms in defense. "Better hurry. I can't stand like this forever or shall I walk there myself?"

Her eyes grew like saucers. Bastard escaped from her mouth and she walked to the clothes. Picking them up with one angry swing, she strode over to the river and dumped them next to the ground.

She grabbed her backpack, untied her blanket that was in top of it and flung it to the nude Uchiha. He caught with one hand and draped it across his waist.

"Thank you."

"Idiot."

He managed to suppress it since he got out of the water but couldn't hold it it. A hearty laughter bursts through his mouth, making the Hyuga stare back, her face showing complete shock. After all, the Uchiha never laughed.

He chuckled softly, and exhaled happily. "That was one of the funniest things I've ever seen."

"Shut up and start the fire," she growled and twisted her body away from Sasuke, and began washing his clothes. Boy, was she in a bad mood. At least she's not so glum anymore, he thought agreeingly.

"Yea, yea." He turned into the woods and came back a minute later with arms full of firewood. He then dropped them into a pile, and lit them up with a simple fore jutsu. Grabbing the hunt bag, he took out three rabbits and skinned them, getting them ready for cooking.

"Hyuga, can you come and fix the rabbit?"

She turned her head and sees him squatting next to the fire, rabbits on sticks. "Please?" Hinata said irritatedly.

He rolled his eyes but decided to play along. "Please?"

She stood from her job and went to her backpack, reaching in the small zipper and took out a bottle the size of a can of soda and walked over to the duck-haired shinobi.

She sat down and handed him the bottle. "What's this?" He asked.

"The seasoning," she answered simply.

"Why are you giving it to me?"

She poked his shoulder. "YOU season it."

Sasuke stared at her. "No."

"Why not?" She retorted.

"I'll screw it up."

"No you won't."

"Yes I will."

"NO you won't."

"YES, I will."

"Oh, for heavens sake, it's not that hard!"

"Exactly. Which is why YOU can do it." Sasuke handed her the bottle and crossed his arms across his bare chest. "Why do you want me to do it, anyway?"

"Because its good to learn new things."

"Really?" He scoffed.

"Plus you're the one who likes it."

"I only like it when you do it."

Hinata didn't say another word. She untwisted the cap of the seasoning and sprinkled it on the fish.

When she was just about to grab the last rabbit, Sasuke caught on to something. Out of the pouch that sat in her hip she took from him was a rather large scroll sticking out. He looked closely and recognized something. A Konoha symbol. He growled loudly.

"Are you really that hungry that you have to growl like a wolf?" She muttered, not paying attention where he was googling his eyes at.

"When were you going to tell me?"

"Tell you what?" She tilted her head to see him.

He nodded his head towards the pouch. Hinata looked down and grabbed the scroll out. Eyeing Sasuke she tossed it to him.

He stared at it. "You real mission is to bring me back...isn't it?"

"Just read the scroll."

He grimaced but obliged. Since the seal was steady broken he just opened it and started reading.

He blinked once.

Then twice.

"What the hell is this?"

"What do you think it is?"

"...You sent an urgent message to Konohagakure JUST to get permission to continue this mission?"

"What else?" She turned her head and glared at him.

"What?" Hinata smiled. "You actually think ill be on a mission to return you?"

"Maybe, Kami who knows what Naruto wants me back for..."

"Well, you're mistaken."

Sasuke thought for a moment. "You also asked you didn't need backup? Is it that you don't need it or because I'm in the plan as same as you and you don't want anyone to know?"

"No I don't want anyone to know and I CAN do this mission myself."

"Why is that?"

"Rumors can get ugly.."

He lifted his lips into his signature smirk. "I get it."

Hinata twirled her head to look at him. "Get what?"

"You don't want your father or anyone else to found out that you've been with me for how long? Days? WEEKS?"

Before he knew, he was pulled down hard into the ground, black hair tickling his face. A kunai dug in his neck, being really close to cutting out blood. "I swear if you even breathe a word to anyone about this, I will personally cut your dignity off."

"Am I really that bad for reputation?"

"I don't care and I wouldn't want to know. I'm not taking any chances."

"Then I guess I shouldn't either." He looked into her eyes. They were really a mystery. "I have a question Hyuga."

"Better think about you want to ask." She drove the kunai harder to his neck.

"Don't worry..." He turned his head to look left to right and leaned his head to Hinata's.

"Hyuga, do you realize I am naked right now besides this thing around my waist and by the position you put us in right now, you are really putting yourself in bad boundaries."

She didn't blink. Her eyes bore into his what felt like an eternity before he started feeling not at ease. Hinata released the kunai and slowly stood up. Right when Sasuke was standing up, a punch landed in his abdomen, blowing him down harshly back to the ground.

"Stupid." She spat and turned her heel, leaving Sasuke gasping for air.

He rotated to his stomach and grasping on all fours. Damn her punch is strong. But at least it's not as strong as Sakura's, he winced.

Sasuke glared at her. Who gives her a damn right to hit me? He thought annoying. Anyone who would hit Sasuke would be either dead or broken to pieces and would die like that.

Her back was turned away from him, making Sasuke smile deviously. Pretending to go check the fish, he idly sneaked up on the pupil less girl.

He sat down next to her and diverted his eyes to the fish. Together they sat there, criss-cross and saying nothing. Crickets chirped around them, if not for them, they would have been in complete silence.

"Do you have something you wish to say to me?" Her voice broke the silence.

He shook his head.

Hinata puffed her bangs. She was in one sour mood. Kami, she thought Sasuke was dead in the river and he just stood up carelessly and now he was acting like a little child! If Naruto found out he was dead because of her...oh wait...he doesn't even know he's with me. She groaned mentally. Why do I always make such stupid promises? Bringing Sasuke back would be a miracle from kami.

Her hands twisted with her hair that was still in a ponytail, but a very sloppy one. Hinata gave up and released the hair ribbon causing her hair to flow across her whole back, the wind blowing it out of her face. It felt good for her, knowing her dirty and greasy hair won't mess with her face. Hinata kept sitting there silently until she saw the raven man moving slowly towards her.

She stiffened herself. What was he doing? Right as she was about to pull away something touched her. A cold nose landed in her hair which made her lose all color to her face.

Sasuke inhaled and exhaled slowly. Parting away from the head his smirk turned into a big smile.

"Lavender."

Hinata blinked, breaking out if her coma. "Lavender..."

He poked her head. "You smell like lavender."

Hinata didn't know what to say.

"Y-yea, I guess."

"You smell horrible."

That threw her off. "Excuse me?"

"You smell horrible," he repeated solemnly. "Like dirt and sweat."

"That's not nice to say that!" Her face was growing red from anger.

"We'll it's the truth."

"I know it's the truth! I haven't bathed in days!"

"Why don't you?"

Hinata's mouth threw itself open. "Huh?"

He pointed to the steady current behind her. She gritted her teeth.

"Over my dead body."

He rolled his eyes. "Then you would really stink if you were dead."

A fist landed on his shoulder. "Ow!" He glared at her.

"Since you have the strength to punch me, you can travel on foot." He accused.

She smiled. "Finally some sense knocked into you!" She stood and almost skipped to his clothes that were drying on a big wooden log.

"Dress up, then we'll eat and-"

Her face lost color again. The Uchiha eyed her worryingly. "Ne, Hyuga, you ok?"

"Oh, no..." She collapsed on her knees, breathing harder than usual. Sasuke ran into action, squatting next to the Hyuga.

"Oi, Hinata, what the hell?"

"No, I can't. I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?"

Her eyebrows scrunched together, eyes shutting hard. "Misuma."

"Misuma? Who is she?" Sasuke questioned.

"The woman who helped me earlier today."

A woman flashed in Sasuke's eyes and understood. "What the problem?"

"Shit...Sasuke...she told me to meet her in Suna."

"...and?" He asked irritated.

"For crying out loud, I forgot! I forgot we were going to Suna!"

Sasuke abruptly stood. "Where the hell did you think we were going all this time?" He tensed his shoulders. "You thought we would actually go to kill that bastard right away?"

"Of course I did! Misuma gave me a paper-"

"What paper?"

"The layout and security of his hideout. It's right next to Suna in a small village," Hinata muttered.

"When did she give it to you?"

"When she gave my chakra back."

Sasuke thought for a moment. "But that doesn't explain why you disagree to go to Suna."

"Did you not remember what I did earlier today?" She stood and came face to face with him. "I KILLED a Suna ninja! If the Kazekage or anyone finds out I did it, they would want to add consequences on me!" She was shouting on the top of her voice. "What will the Hokage think of this. What will my father think of this?"

Hinata reflexes and punched a tree. "And I'm suppose to be a damn leader, a worthy shinobi!"

"Calm down!"

"I can't!" Her eyes dropped. "I-I can't."

He sighed and walked towards her. "We'll figure something out. Plus they might never ask and never find him."

"What if they ask? What if they do find him? They will see his chakra points shut off and who can only do that?" She pointed to herself. "Me! The Hyuga clan!"

"It doesn't matter. You're gonna have to go there, whether you like it or not."

"I can call off this mission. You still have to kill Hiruku yourself so it won't be a problem for our village anymore." Hinata briskly walked to her bag and tossed it over her shoulders.

Sasuke clenched his fists."So that's it? You're just gonna leave?"

"I'll send Misuma a letter saying I couldn't make it. She'll understand," mumbled softly.

"I don't give a damn about her!" He narrowed his eyes. "You'll regret this I know."

"You don't know me."

"I know a coward. Especially one with the nindo of to never give up."

Her foot stopped in mid-air. "I'm not giving up. Sometimes a mission goes wrong and you can never do anything about it." Hinata's eyes met his briefly, full of sorrow, begging for forgiveness. "Good bye, Sasuke."

Her steps walked away, slowly dragging her feet, her aching will of leaving an unfinished mission, a promise to bring Sasuke back, to help Sasuke.. She looked once more at him. She was leaving a friend.

But Sasuke didn't let things fall from his hand to quickly.

"Naruto sent me," he blurted.

She turned. "What?"

"And so did your father."

She smiled sadly. "You don't have to make excuses for me to stay, Uchiha."

"I'm not making any damn excuses," he bitterly replied.

The Uchiha saw her frown.

"It was suppose to be a cover-up mission. Higher than S-rank."

"What was it?"

"To protect you."

"Was that Naruto's request or my fathers?"

"Naruto's."

"Then...what was my fathers?" Her voice quavered.

He closed his eyes, getting Hinata nervous. "Sasuke?"

"I was suppose to only meet you after you killed Hiruku. Tsunade would have sent you a double mission and you would have had to work with me."

"So father wanted me to work with you?"

"No." He glared her into the eye, determination flaring. "He wanted me to find a way to agree with you into marriage."

Hinata's hand flew to her mouth, the lavender eyes growing white. "Wha-. What? Why?"

"My only goal left is to restore my clan. He wanted me to not tell you this: that no matter how hard you tried, your sister would be clan leader. To make him proud was to marry the last prophecy child of the Uchiha. Me."

Hands started trembling and eyes watering. "N-no, that can't be! He told me himself if I t-tried I could be come leader!" Her eyes widened and she tried to laugh but ending up in hiccups. "Y-you're lying! This is just some kind of sick joke! And how in the world would I ever agree to marry a man I don't love!"

"Weren't you going to do it anyways? If Hanabi were to take head, you would have been married of in some damn country to some stranger."

Hinata shook her head shakily. "Father hates you. He told me himself."

"Do you believe every word he says?"

"Yes!"

"You're too naïve, Hinata. Why do you think I want to go to Suna?"

She watched him, waiting for the unpredictable answer. "Me and you were suppose to go to Suna and have a marriage contract signed with the Kazekage and his siblings as key witnesses. They don't know this but I was to inform them."

"No. I won't do this."

"It's the only way to make your father proud."

She backed to a tree, sliding down to her knees. His words swam through her brain, nagging her, suffocating her.

"And you agreed to this?" She whispered painfully.

"It was the only choice I had left. And I was the one who brought it up to your father."

"Why me? Why not some other girl? Pick any girl off the street and they would agree. Not me."

"You're...how can i say this? You're Different... from the other girls. And your father only agreed because of our ties of our bloodline traits. He also made me promise to protect you." He softened his voice. "To try to make you happy."

Hinata's head rose. "Happy? HAPPY? How can I be happy?" Her voice was filled with venom.

He shrugged lightly. "We'll find a way. Plus, I'm willing to live in the village for this."

"You'd really stay in the village because you'll marry me?" She gaped.

Sasuke nodded. "You'll get to stay in touch with your family and..." He smirked softy. "You might be able to pursue you're dream as ANBU right?"

Hinata didn't know what to say. She sat there, staring at him, emotions traveling inside her at the speed of lightning. She'll be in Konohagakure, with friends and family, and ANBU? It couldn't be true. But something wasn't right here.

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Would you waste your freedom to marry a disposed heiress for the rest of your life?"

"Maybe. But I can tell you this. If you find the man of your dreams, i'll cut off the marriage and you'll live happily. Hiashi understands this."

"R-really?"

"Hn." He rose an eyebrow. "So do you agree to marry me, the last handsome Uchiha?"

Hinata thought for a moment. Her emotions changed every milisecond from anger, shock, sadness and somewhat relief. Relief that's he would actually get to stay in the village. That she would be doing something that proves we worthy in her fathers eyes. But does father really mean I can't be leader? All those compliments and boasting...was it a cover up?

But since Hanabi will take over, it should be worth it. Her eyes landed on Sasuke. So I marry him? Her brows furrowed mentally. He was the one who brought this up...why? Was I really better than other women out there in the world? He would do all this for me? What have I done to him to actually acknowledge me? All I've done was act like a stuckup brat, she thought. But something flickered in his eyes when he spoke. It looked so real, like a spark ignited in his eyes.

Like he was telling the truth.

Hinata sighed heavily. I guess there's no better choice.

She laughed softly, her face looking more happier when she raised her head to look at him. "I guess I can but I don't know what to say about the handsome part."

Sasuke's face showed astonishment and he looked rather sad. "You don't find me handsome?"

"Hmmm." She tapped her finger against her chin. "I'll count you...passable."

"Passable?" He asked in utter shock.

"Uh huh."

He shook his head. "The only girl I'm marrying and she finds me passable."

"Sasuke-san."

"Hm?"

"Are you sure want to go through the trouble of an ARRANGED marriage?"

He bowed his head. "I know you rarely know me and the only thing you know about me is that I'm a man who sought revenge."

"And a idiot."

"Yea that too."

"But it's better for the both of us. You get to stay in the village and I dont have to worry about having a fan girl as a wife."

He squinted his eyes in suspicion. "You aren't a fangirl, are you?"

"Psh, I never even second glanced you."

"Ouch, that hurts."

"Do you want me to become one?" She questioned tauntingly.

"No thank you," He shuddered lightly.

"Good be grateful."

"Oh and just to let you know..."

"What?"

He stared at her, and his famous smirk appeared to his face. "You're going to have to act like you're in love with me in front of the Kazekage and his siblings."

She shrugged. "I gotta do what I gotta do." She smiled softly. "If this is what I have to do to prove to my father, ill do it."

He nodded. "Good, now get up Hyuga, we have to make it there by sundown."

She stood, and stared. "What?" He asked.

Her eyes dropped to his body.

"Oh, right. I'm still naked."

"And we didn't eat dinner yet."

"Right again."

She smiled and walked to him, stopping mere inches from him. "Now since I'm going to be 'married' to you, you have to stop calling me Hyuga."

"Only if you stop calling me lousy nicknames and Uchiha," Sasuke muttered softly, his breath tickling her face.

From their closeness, she doesn't back away. Instead she smiles in a teasing way.

"Then what honor do I have to call you?"

His lips raise into a smile, a smile he rarely showed since his childhood.

"Just Sasuke."

Hinata smiled too, a smile she hasn't shown since the war. A smile that shows happiness and full of care.

"Deal. Now lets go eat...Sasuke."

"Good, but let me first change, Hinata."

She shook her head, laughing softly before taking a few steps back, and then turned to rescue the rabbit, leaving Sasuke smiling 'like' an idiot in love.

* * *

Yay! Don't you guys love me for this? Haha lol just kiddin'. And can you believe it? I finished this under a couple hours! Shocking.

Please review and favorite and follow!

Love and farewell,

NarutoImagine01


	10. Chapter 10

Hello everyone! Here's chapter ten! It's a bit short but i promise ill make it up for it! :) enjoy!

Thank you **BashyBunny, XxMelony-kunXx, Atykka, ChocStraw, lovelyme9, StopTeasing, and XxcandichanxX for the loving reviews and suggestions! **

You guys rock! :)

* * *

Chapter 10

The Marriage

The soon to be married couple reached Sunagakure right as the sun set, both tired and exhausted from the long journey.

Hinata stood nervously, her face an unusual greenish face and feet shaking like two small twigs about to snap.

Kami, what happened in the last few hours. Almost getting kidnapped, meeting a long time friend, destroying her innocence by killing a Suna, and now standing here by Sasuke Uchiha as a betrothed!

How on earth is Sasuke going to convince Gaara and his brother and sister that he's marrying me? He said he'll INFORM them, but knowing the Subaku family, they hate him! And I'm actually agreeing to marry! Hinata sighed softly. If it were any other man, she would have shouted no without hesitation. But why hasn't she said no to Sasuke? Was it because her father wished this? Or was it because of an unidentified feeling in her soul, a feeling that promises peace and safeness. The look in his eye like he actually meant it. Like he wanted her to be..happy. His face grew light when he spoke, his eyes shining bright black and raw emotion dancing. Usually she would have at least thought this over, but only being from Suna a couple hours, she couldn't do anything about it. And here Hinata was in a jumble of nerves, thinking about their unexpected proposition to the Kazekage.

Many months have past since the war, but Hinata knew better than to be non-judge mental. People still hated Sasuke. Not just in Konoha, but in all the other Great Nations. The Kazekage shows no respect to him, not that Hinata knows about, but she definitely knows the Raikage, Mizukage, and the Tshushikage hate him to the guts. Since he has a not so great reputation here, she thought, I guess I might have to take this in my own hands.

Sasuke and Hinata finally reached Sunagakure, the sun setting in the horizon. Hinata was dirtier than ever and Sasuke got dirty all over again.

Both stood shoulder to shoulder waiting for the official to come back and pass them through.

"Uch-, I mean, Sasuke..."

"Hm?" He hummed out, to busy looking ahead for the ninja to come back.

She grasped both her hands together, hiding their trembling state.

"How are you going to tell the Subaku siblings about...this marriage contract?"

"Simple. I just tell them."

"I know that," she spoke irritated. "But specifically."

He led his gaze down to her, a smirk on his face. "Don't worry, everything will be fine."

Right as he finished speaking, a shriek from a four pigtailed blonde erupted and she ran towards the Hyuga.

She pounced at the Hyuga, hugging her in a terrible, air taking hug and jumping everywhere. "Hinata! It's been to long!"

Hinata laughed and hug her back as fiercely. "Yes it has."

Temari's hopping has stopped and her eyes drew to a raven haired man next to Hinata.

"The hell he's doing here?"

Sasuke eye twitched. "I'm here to-"

"He's my bodyguard!" Hinata blurted.

Both heads turned to look at her in astonishment.

"He's-uh-here as my bodyguard. These past few months, Neji's been really strict about not leaving a mission without a bodyguard," Hinata blabbers nervously. Her eyes darted to the Uchiha, showing him to play along.

Temari's eyebrow rose. "And he sent the Uchiha?"

"I'm right here you know," he spat.

Before Temari can answer, Hinata beat her to it.

"He was the only one available to do the job and Neji doesn't HATE him. He just...disapproves of Sasuke."

"I'm still here," he grumbled, arms crossed.

She nudged her elbow in his ribcage, silencing him from anything else he had on his mind.

Temari eyed the both of them, looking unconvinced. "Well, aren't you gonna let us in, Temari?" Hinata spoke in a teasing voice. "Or are you going to leave us here?"

She sighed drastically and raised her hands in surrender. "Oh, I guess I can. But you'll have to go meet Gaara first. He hates it when I just let people in and not tell him."

"Perfect," Sasuke spoke and started walking.

Perfect? Temari thought. She looked at Hinata with suspicion. Hinata stood there with a worrisome expression on her face. I knew it that something's not right here.

She walked to Hinata and hugged her again but only to speak in her ear. "You're going to tell me why Sasuke is here and why you kept it a secret, m'kay?"

Hinata sighed. "Forgive me, Temari, I didn't want anyone to overhear. It's only for your ears and your brothers for now."

Temari pulled back, her face showing raging anger and worry. "What's wrong? Is it Sasuke? What has he done to you?"

"Temari, he didn't do anything! Well, not in a bad way..."

"Are you coming or not?" Sasuke yelled over his shoulder, already a couple yards away from them.

"I want details later," Temari whispered be before she squeezed Hinata's hand and started walking side to side with her.

Hinata nodded softly and looked up ahead to the Uchiha's back and his symbol caught his eye. The Uchiha fan marked on his back of his black shirt stood out fiercely, and Hinata couldn't get her eyes of them. Or the feeling that she'll have to wear that symbol soon.

The three shinobis walked silently through the desert streets of the Sand, making people stop, stare and gossip for seeing an unusual pair of Konoha ninja with the Subaku woman. Sasuke paid no attention to this, since he was already used to the stares and Hinata was somewhat used to it too. Her new reputation in Konoha made people stop and admire her, gossip about her too.

After the war, she and Temari grew close together, closer than Tenten, Sakura and Ino were to Hinata. Temari's strong character influenced Hinata to be just like her.

Temari liked her even when she was a quiet one but when she grew more confident, Temari couldn't help but be friends with her. They both spoke their secrets, worries, crying on each others shoulders or even the opposite. They would gossip together, grab a drink and get drunk together, which only happened once and won't happen again. They were like inseparable sisters, one light one dark, making a perfect match.

They never kept secrets from each other, and Temari noticed right away Hinata was. What secret could she have kept to only be heard by my ears and my brothers that had to involve her and Sasuke?

She couldn't find an answer so she would have to wait. The blonde glanced towards Hinata. Her eyes were on the road ahead, but her eyes flickered to the right every few seconds, where the Uchiha walked side by side.

If he did anything to her... She thought angrily but stopped when someone landed in front of her. A shinobi with three large scrolls on his back, purple war paint almost covering every inch on his face. His hair was a dusty brown, and warring completely all black, from head to toe.

"Well, lookie here. Hinata, haven't seen you in a while."

Hinata smiled big. "Haven't seen you, too. How've you been?"

"Good, so far." He noticed Sasuke standing there too, staring at him with no interest.

"The hell he's doing here?"

Hinata almost laughed. His reaction was the same as Temari's when she saw Sasuke.

"He's my bodyguard, Kankuro." Hinata answered with a bigger smile than before.

Kankuro grimaced and Sasuke smirked. "I see you still were makeup," Sasuke spoke teasingly.

"War paint," he hissed.

"Still playing with dolls, too?"

Kankuro was ready to pounce on him before he heard a loud voice over the Uchiha.

"Sasuke, don't be so rude!"

"What? I'm just stating the obvious."

"Well, it's not nice. What if someone was making fun of you?"

"Like what? I don't carry dolls on me everyday. And no one has the guts to do so."

"If someone did, they would have insulted your hair."

Sasuke stared at Hinata, before he turned his face away, hiding his tiny pout.

Kankuro and Temari watched in astonishment. No one ever insulted Sasuke and seeing Hinata do it so easily, raised their suspicion even more.

"Now," Hinata started. "Can we get along and go to the Kazekage, already? Oh, and Kankuro, you're needed there, too."

"Me?" He questioned. "Why?"

Hinata shook her head. "I can't explain here. You three need to hear it all at once."

Both nodded their heads hesitantly and the four of them walked to the Kazekage's office.

Knock-knock

"Enter."

Four ninjas entered and Gaara couldn't be more surprised but didn't show it.

"Hinata, what brings you here?"

Hinata bowed and smiled. "Good evening Kazekage-sama. I'm here for a mission and... an important matter, you can say."

"A mission? I haven't sent any requests to Konohagakure for help."

"Oh, it's not. I have a mission here near the Sand and I decided to stop by."

Gaara smiled ever so small. "You're welcome here anytime." His eyes danced to Sasuke and if he had eyebrows, he would have rose them in question.

"Uchiha Sasuke. I presume you're here with Hinata."

He nodded stiffly.

Gaara turned his head back to Hinata. "Partners?"

She swallowed and looked at Sasuke. He seemed so calm and unfazed. "May I?" Hinata spoke softy yet sternly.

Gaara understood and nodded once. Veins danced across her face and eyes flared white. She glanced left to right and deactivated her eyes. No one would hear or spy on them. She looked back at Sasuke and he was staring at her back, a raised brow.

Like hell he was going to tell them! He knew she was going to say it after all.

"Umm...how can I say this?" Hinata closed her eyes. "I'm getting married."

"Really?" The three siblings mused.

"Y-yea. My father wished me this and I need to do a blood marriage contract and you need to be the three key witnesses."

"...Wow, Hinata. Aren't you upset? What about the Hyuga clan?" Temari spoke in disbelief.

"Hanabi will rule."

Everyone was silent until the red haired kage spoke. "Are you sure you want this, Hinata? You worked hard for that place."

"I did." Hinata said simply.

"But an arranged marriage. And so soon? You still have a year to prove your worth," Temari strained.

"I could be what's the point. In the end it will be the same." Hinata glanced at her feet.

Kankuro coughed for attention. "We'll since you're here for the marriage, where's the lucky spouse?"

Hinata smiled at the ground and raised her head to Sasuke. "Him."

It was silent. No one said anything, and she wondered if anyone of the three were even breathing. She lowered her head to see them. She stifled a laugh and caused her to cough at what she saw.

No one in history has seen the three siblings, standing side to side, showing pure shock with open mouths. Well, Temari and Kankuro did. Gaara was to serious for that.

"H-how the? Him? Seriously?" Temari fumbled over her words.

Hinata shrugged. "It just happened."

Kankuro ran a hand through his brown hair, making it sticks some strands of hair out. He whistled. "Ne, Hinata, you got it in for ya."

Hinata stared at him in confusion before a blush rose to her cheeks, her eyes wide.

Kankuro saw this and immediately understood why he said. "N-no I didn't mean it like that!"

"Shut up, Kankuro!"

He shut his mouth and walked to a corner, not daring to land an eye on Temari.

Gaara closed his eyes for a moment and popped them open seconds afterwards.

"If that is your request, I'll fulfill it. But I still have one question." He rose from his seat. "If he wanted key witnesses, couldn't he have used himself or anyone from the Hyuga Clan?"

Hinata didn't know what to say? Why did father want me to come here? She rose her head to wait for Sasuke to answer.

He spoke emotionless yet convincing to them. "He wanted you as the three witnesses because he knew no other kage would do it."

"Even Naruto?" The Kazekage queried.

"He didn't want Naruto to find out yet, and he knew he would stir a lot if havoc for this."

"Mind me asking, how did YOU agree? " His eyes growing a beautiful green, "And why so sudden? Not even a ceremony to be planned."

"I agreed on personal matters and Hiashi sought me as well."

He clamped his hands together and propped his elbows to his desk, hands hovering his mouth. He sat there, no one asking or thinking their thoughts out loud. Gaara sighed and retrieved a scroll out if his desk.

"Alright, it's settled."

"Ano, Kazekage-sama?" Hinata spoke softly.

"Yes?"

She hovered her eyes to him, her pupil less eyes shining bright. "For now, it's only the going to be the five of us and my father, okay? After some time, ill tell everyone else."

"As you wish." He unraveled the scroll and started scribbling sternly yet not enough to bleed the ink through. He finished and laid his pen down. Temari and Kankuro walked up and sighed their names where Gaara had signed it earlier, being official witnesses in this event.

"Step foward, Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuga Hinata." They both walked to the desk.

"Smear your blood on the scroll."

Sasuke went first, biting his thumb so easily, looking like only a mosquito bit him. His blood trickled down his thumb and smudged the red liquid onto the paper.

Hinata bit her thumb, feeling nothing too. She looked at her blood, dripping onto the floor before taking a deep inaudible breath and placing her thumb onto the scroll.

"It's complete but even more so if you two had rings," Gaara told them.

Sasuke reached into his pouch and took out a cloth, being so delicate Hinata thought it was glass. Carefully he unraveled the material and revealed two silver rings and both had the Uchiha fan sketched on perfectly onto them.

They must have cost a fortune, Hinata thought, eyeing them with fascination.

Gaara nodded in approval. "You first, Uchiha."

Sasuke grabbed the smaller ring and turned to face Hinata. She looked at his eyes, hers chrystal white with fear and uncertainty. Seeing her discomfort, he allowed a small small trace his mouth, unseen to the Subaku. Hinata smiled back, feeling a little more calm. She etched her left hand out slowly, praying it wasn't shaking like a new born deer trying to walk. He reached her out out midway and caressed her palm while slipping on the ring to her fourth finger, fitting perfectly.

Sasuke then handed her the cloth, his ring still laying there. She grabbed it and eyed it. A ring that looked well taken care of, she thought. She looked at him. He was staring also at the ring, his black eyes swimming with tell-tale emotions. Its like he held them with him for a long time. Only one thing could have come up to her mind. These where his parents rings.

Hinata grabbed Sasuke's hand, feelings its scarred texture against hers. Hers weren't as rough as his but weren't soft either. She ran her thumb against the ring before sliding in on his finger, like butter.

Both dropped their hands and stood there watching each other, thinking one thing.

"I could now present you as Sasuke and Hinata Uchiha."

It's official.

* * *

Wee! It's complete! Hope you guys loved it! Please review and favorite and follow and so on! If anyone has any suggestions or a few pointers here andthere please feel free write them! tete ally appreciate them!

Love and Farewell,

NarutoImagine01


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

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Hello! sorry for the long wait! I've been really busy and I never had the time! But here and enjoy! I have to be honest, I think this chapter I could have done better but my brain wasnt working, but enjoy! :)

* * *

Hot springs

**Hinata rose her hand to the beam of light from the window in her room, some what admiring the ring on her finger. She sat on her bed in her room, not bothering to turn on the light and the window gave the only light.**

After they signed the contract, Sasuke informed them of their mission of Hiruku and Gaara, without hesitation, let them stay as long as they liked. Sasuke and Hinata both already made up a plan on how to attack and they will both taking turns spying and investigation, but decided to stay in Suna for a couple of days. Hinata also informed Gaara not to tell the Hokage(both Naruto and Tsunade) that they're here, just for now. Both were dismissed to the Subaku compound and designated rooms. They both had separate rooms but only a screen door divided them, yet only one bathroom.

Sasuke left to the bathhouse to clean up which left Hinata the bathroom. She didn't bathe yet, since she was too fazed about today.

Hinata didn't know whether to be happy or sad at the moment. She could be free now, no worries about proving worthy to the cranky council members of her clan or marrying a complete stranger. She'll be in the village, pursuing her dream of ANBU and living a carefree life. Yet she'll be standing side by side with Sasuke.

The Sasuke Uchiha. No matter how many times the name was brought up, her heart skipped a beat. Never in her live did she think she would be thinking of him.

Temari was right. He did grow handsome. He was handsome before but Hinata rarely laid an eye on him. His hair grew, still jet black and spiky. She smiled at this. His hair was funny looking, sticking out like a duck's tail but no one had the guts to insult them. Yet I do. And his eyes.

His eyes were obsidian black eyes that captured her. They were dark but in looked closely, you can see a red tint in them. Just like his sharingan.

And his body. Hinata blushed madly at this. No wonder everyone fell for him, even not seeing him without a shirt. Their night together in the cave made Hinata blush even madder. Kami, I'm already acting like a little child! She frowned. No one that she saw or knew made her feel this way. Only Naruto but not anymore. But Sasuke? Was it just how he acted? His unrecognizable kindness or his sence of humor or his revealing looks? Once again Hinata's brain dreamed of him and his body.

His chest and back was ripped with muscles and... His scars. Hinata burrowed her eyes. He had so many sketched onto his body, stretching long from a sword or a small one a knife. Some seemed so close to vital organs that he surely should have been dead. Especially the one right in the center of his chest. It didn't look like a sword nor kunai did such scar, because the scar looked...twisted. It was a heavy and powerful attack that only one person could do such a thing.

Naruto.

His rasengan sends people flying through the air, killing some people instanty. And what worried Hinata is that Naruto didn't seem he held back. He hit centimeters from Sasuke's heart. Was he trying to kill him? Did Sasuke him him as well with his chidori?

Questions popped in her head simultaneously but she pushed them back. It's their business. Their friendship.

But others things haunted her mind. She haven't asked Temari about Misuma yet and...she sighed. The Sand Ninja. Just when Temari greeted her, a stab in her chest ached and she couldn't shake off the feeling. Hinata hopes no one will find out but if they do, what will happen to her? Prison? Death penalty? War against the clan? She sighed again. Everything was going smoothly until this mission, but part of her was glad. She met Sasuke. For crying out, she's married to him! And father wanted this for her?

When did Sasuke and my father ever talk about this? Before Sasuke left? She shook her head, dismissing the thought. Sasuke only stayed for a day, he wouldn't have had the time to stop by the Hyuga for a marriage.

She raised her head to the window, eyeing the starry and cloudless sky. She was tired and a bath sounded so good right now. She turned her head to where the bathroom was, the door blocking the sight. A bath here sounded pleasantly but hot springs sounded so much better. She decided. Hinata grabbed a towel, extra clothes Temari lend her and other accessories and left the room. Hot spring it is.

A content sigh escaped out of a dark haired ninja. Sasuke sat in a steamy pool, the only one in there, since it was almost the middle of the night. He leaned his head back and raised his left hand to eye his ring. His fathers ring. And his mothers was on Hinata Hyuga's finger.

What did he think of her? Well, she was beautiful. From her long indigo hair, to her big pupiless white eyes, to her porcelain face and to her perfect body. Her character was angelic. She was not to loud, not to quiet and she has the will to never give up and she cares for her loved ones. I wonder, he fisted and unfisted his hand, then lowered it under the water, if she would see me as a loved one. And will I ever see her?

He lied to her. Not completely but enough. Hiashi offered him marriage to Hinata months ago, but he declined.

Flashback:

"Oi, come one, Sasuke! Don't do this!"

Naruto stopped in front Sasuke, who was packing his belongings in the Uchiha compound. The belonging he couldn't carry with him when he was a missing nin.

"Why do you have to be like this? Your promise was fulfilled, the war is over, why leave?"

"You know why," he gruffed.

Naruto puffed his cheeks and rubbed the back of his head.

"Itachi died as a Konoha hero, yet no one knows about it. If you leave, it will just bring suspicion and more hatred towards you and your clan. People will say you're following Itachi's footsteps. Can you handle that?"

"I won't be here to hear that."

"It won't just be in the village."

He turned to Naruto. "You're annoying."

"Sasuke-teeemmmeee," the blonde whined.

Sasuke smirked and walked over to Naruto. He held his hand out. Naruto's face grew serious yet sadly smiling. He extended his out to Sasuke and gripped it.

"Sasuke hear me out once more." He squeezed Sasuke hand firmly and stared onto black pooled eyes with his ocean blue ones. "Your a brother to me. A bond I won't ever forge. No matter what, ill be at your side."

Sasuke lips curved into a small smile. "Arigato, Naruto." He broke their grip. "Now get lost."

"He, you're always the same."

"Hm." Sasuke turned back to his bag before a knock was heard downstairs on the front door.

"That better not be Sakura," Sasuke mumbled.

Naruto punched Sasuke's arm. "Ow!"

Naruto crossed his arms playfully. "Come on, Sasuke! Sakura is not what you remember from our Genin years! She's actually..."

"Less aggressive?"

"Yea!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and walked down the stairs to answer the door. He opened it only to see, the person who will take his ANBU place he refused.

"Hyuga."

"Uchiha."

They stared at each other for a moment or two before Sasuke raised a brow. "What brings you here?"

"The fifth Hokage, and Hiashi summon you," Neji spoke.

"What for?"

"It's classified. Until she tells you herself. Meet her at the Hyuga compound." And he disappeared in a whirl of leaves.

"What was that for," Naruto questioned as he walked down the stairs.

"Don't know." He stepped out of his house ad shut the door, and started walking towards the Hyuga compound and left Naruto staring at the closed door.

"We're glad you can make here, Uchiha Sasuke."

He nodded slowly. "Likewise."

Tsunade gestured to a sitting pillow in front of a table, where she and Hiashi Hyuga already sat. Sasuke sat slowly eyeing everyone with distrust. Neji stood by the door, as if guarding it.

He turned his gaze back to the two shinobi in front of him, brows burrowed. "Is there a problem I should be informed about?"

"There's no problem, Sasuke, but there is a...proposition."

He frowned. "What kind?" He looked at Hiashi, his face showing nothing. "But I can already guess it was to do with something of the Hyuga Clan."

"Sharp as always," the blonde answered with a smirk. Tsunade took a deep breath before turning her face serious.

"The proposition is marriage."

Sasuke chuckled. "You're serious?"

"Does it look like I'm joking?"

"... No thank you."

Taunade pounded her fist onto to table, making tea cups rattle and spill the tea they held. She bend over the table, coming face to face to Sasuke.

"You're cocky, Uchiha, and I knew you would say no. But I haven't figured out a reason why the hell you decline."

"Simple," he glared right back into her hazel eyes, "I don't need you're help."

"Oh for the love of-" she threw her hands in the air. "He doesn't need help! Well, if you don't need my help, then why aren't you marrying yourself?"

He frowned. "It's my choice to decide when and who, and it's not like you care!"

"Believe it or not, I do."

"Bullshit."

She stood abruptly and walked to the door. "You were right Haishi, I don't have the patience for this idiot." And she left.

Sasuke stared at the door before looking at the Hyuga in from of him. "You were with her in this?"

"Yes, I was."

"May I ask why?"

"Why else?" He reached to a cup that was left unspilled from Tsunade's outburst. Sasuke reached for one too. He took a sip, and the Uchiha did the same. He placed the cup down and towed his eyes toward the dark obsidian ones.

"Marriage."

"I know that."

"To my daughter."

Sasuke grew silent. Daughter...ah, the eldest one. Dark hair, same eyes, loves Naruto, shy but rumors say she's different. Have to see it with my own eyes to believe it. He remember her. What was her name again?

"Hinata?"

"Yes," he solemnly said.

"You want her to marry me?"

"Is that a problem?"

"Well, I'm considered a murderous ninja, a missing nin, too and I'm cocky," he informed, the slightest trace of humor in his voice. "And you're giving me to her."

"You have the sharingan."

"Ah...I see." He raised his teacup again. "Combining blood limits."

"Indeed."

Both grew silent, only birds chirping was heard from outside. "And you are to risk you're daughter? Isn't she soon to be heir for clan? I heard she has changed the councils mind into another chance."

"She won't become head."

"So certain."

"I'm certain."

Sasuke raised a brow. "Why so?"

He looked down to the table. "She's to nice. To nice to lead this clan."

Sasuke scoffed mentally. Couldn't say it better myself, he mused but didn't say it out loud.

"So who will lead?" Sasuke asked.

"My younger daughter Hanabi."

"Does Hinata even know about this?" Sasuke noticed Neji cringe at the question.

"She doesn't."

"When will you tell her?"

"That's not important at right now. Do you agree with this?"

"It's not a matter that can be decided in a day, Hyuga-sama."

"Since you plan on leaving-"

"Which I am." Sasuke stood. "I never planned on marrying this soon, and even if I did have time, I would still decline. I would only choose a wife that's suitable for me and only me. Not for increase of strength."

Sasuke walked a couple steps before Hiashi spoke. "If you think I'm just throwing a useless burden away you're wrong."

"Really?"

"I'm doing it actually for her sake. For my younger daughters sake. For her to stay in the village she grew up in and marry a stranger."

"I'm a mere stranger to her."

"I don't like this as much as you do, Uchiha Sasuke, but it's the only way. You're the one that I can only trust."

"Can I be trusted?" And he left without another word spoken.

Neji eyed the door. "You would have really given Hinata to him?"

Hiashi stood, eyes turning to Neji. "I'm only doing this for Hinata. It's either him or a different prince from a different country."

"You still have till her 19th birthday to change his mind."

Hiashi closed his eyes. "It won't be necessary to beg him. If he doesn't want to, then so be it."

Sasuke walked briskly back to his compound, anger rising. The hell's their problem? Treating me like some damn candidate. Suddenly, a blur bumped into him and he took a step back, mouth open, ready to yell at the pass-byer. His black eyes met white. In front of him was none other than Hyuga Hinata.

She lowered her eyes to the floor, making Sasuke smirk. Shy as usual. But what she did really threw him off. When she eyed the ground, Sasuke thought it was her natural habit. But he lowered his eyes too, and she squatted. The Hyuga started picking things up, specifically, new weapons that she dropped when she bumped into Sasuke.

She lifted all her weapons and looked up at Sasuke. He was a little taken back. Her eyes were a fierce lavender, her face showing no innocence or timidness.

"Forgive me for bumping into you," she said aggressively. She took a few steps before stopping side to side with him. "But you should stop scowling and actually watch where you're going."

She walked away, and Sasuke watched her do so before she turned a corner and she disappeared. Her actions were different from what he had remembered. In fact, he didn't even recognize her! If it wasn't for her eyes or hair, he would have though it was some stubborn woman.

She's just in a bad mood, he thought. The Hyuga girl will never be that tough.

He was most certainly wrong.

END OF FLASHBACK:

He chuckled. She sure was. When he first saw her a couple days ago, he could have sworn someone was manipulating her or something. She was stubborn and aggressive but not like Sakura, yet she wasn't too nice or timid like she was at the academy years.

It's just like she's perfect he thought. He frowned. It was only months ago he didn't want anything to do with her. He didn't want to restore his clan yet. And look at him now. Married. To a Hyuga. That he lied too.

And why did he? He could have easily convince her to stay on this mission without a whole damn marriage. But it seemed like the perfect time. He groaned. And it's all a lie.

A sliding door opened and he glanced up. He couldn't see a thing so he paid no attention. Sasuke heard a towel drop and a person entering the water. The water rippled when he traveled but soon stopped and the person grew still.

The raven haired man turned his body and rested his arms on the edge of the pool, putting his head down. Mere seconds had only passed and he heard something that shouldn't have been there.

"Temari?"

Sasuke froze. What the-

"Temari?" The voice called again. More specifically, a girl voice. And he could have sworn his soul that it was a voice that etched his memory forever.

The girl stood in the pool and walked slowly to where she thought Temari was. When she was a foot away, she stopped. The mist was clearing. Sasuke gulped.

Hinata went to check why Temari wasn't answering. The fog blurred her eyes so she went as close as possible. Seeing a dark figure, she stopped a foot away. The steam cleared off and her mouth flew open in the speed of lightning.

"S-Sasuke! W-what are you d-doing here!" Her eyes were so huge, you would have mistaken them with two moons.

Sasuke didn't answer right away, since he was as shocked as her but didn't show it as much as she did.

Hinata was still in shock that she didn't realize she was turning redder and redder by the second. He couldn't figure out if she was embarrassed or it was to hot for her.

"You got five seconds to explain why the hell you're in the WOMEN'S bathhouse," she gritted through her teeth. She was angry, and not at all embarrassed. But what surprised Sasuke more was what she said.

"Women's? This is the men's," Sasuke informed, a little taken back.

"You must be blind not to see the sign."

Sasuke remembered perfectly the sign in bold letters saying 'MEN'S'.

"You must have gotten them mixed up. I am POSITIVE this is men's," he spoke, irritated.

Right as he spoke, a laughter erupted from the far corner of the bathhouse. Both Hinata and Sasuke turned to see who it was. A man only in a robe walked out, more like hobbled, since he couldn't concentrate on walking and he was laughing to death.

Hinata instantly activated her byuakugan at him, and gasped. "Kankuro!"

The bastard.

"Hahaha, you, you should have seen you're face, Uchiha! You looked so horrified! Bwahahahaa!"

Sasuke grimaced. "This is just a stupid prank of yours, isn't it?"

"That's what you get for calling me idiotic nicknames," the brown haired man said, wiping a tear from his eye.

Sasuke stood and immediately Hinata deactivated her eyes and turned away. She was not gonna she him naked again.

For her sake, Sasuke tossed on a towel across his waist and strode over to the puppet master.

He stopped face to face with him, he being taller, and a serious look on his face. Kankuro stopped laughing and also stared back, the same expression.

"So is this the men's or women's?" Sasuke asked in a monotone voice.

Kankuro smirked. "Obviously women's."

"Yup you're right."

The brown haired man burrowed his brows. "What do you mean by that, Uchiha?"

Sasuke glanced behind Kankuro and back on him. "You wouldn't want Temari to find you in here, now would you, KANKURO..."

He froze. The way he etched his name made him nervous. A tapping foot behind him made him gulp.

"Kankuro you have one second to explain why in the hell you're in here," Temari spoke calmly.

He turned around and came face to face with his older sister.

"T-Temari-" Kankuro pleaded.

"One." She swung her fist into his stomach. The puppet master arches his body foward, coughing at his lack of air.

Temari crossed her arms and stared at his pitiful state. "If you ever plan on doing something like this again, I'll tell Gaara, and boy do you remember what happened last time."

He nodded faintly and hobbled out, sending daggers dipped in venom towards the Uchiha. He smirked in reply.

As soon as Kankuro left, Temari sighed and uncrossed her arms. "Sorry, Hinata, Sasuke for this. He can never NOT seek revenge if someone did something to him."

"It's fine," Hinata replied. Her lips grew into a lady-like smirk. Sasuke smiled mentally at this. "But I can't help but see you give him such a small punishment, considering what you do to him all the time."

Temari waved her hand back and forth. "Ne, Hinata, you should know me better." She smiled evilly.

"I have a feeling it's worse than the others," Hinata muttered.

"You bet. Ill give you a hint. Remember Saiya?"

Hinata gasped. "Oh, no, you didn't..."

"Did what?" Sasuke asked impatiently.

Hinata turned to him, a sad look on her face. "She's called the ultimate fangirl."

Sasuke was silent for a moment before he gave out a small chuckle. "Fangirl? I'm surprised anyone likes him."

"Well, not as much as you," Temari mumbled under her breath.

"What do you mean?" He asked again with a raised brow. Seeing Temari won't answer he turned to Hinata. She had her lips clamped shut but the mischievous sparkle in her eye gave her away.

"Well? What about me?"

Hinata sighed and sunk deeper, the water up to her chin now. Sasuke almost sighed of relief. Every time he saw her or her pale porcelain skin made his feel a little uneasy, though she didn't see it.

"Don't you remember your childhood years?" Images of his clans death raced in his mind.

"In the academy?" She added.

The horrible images vanished instantly. Instead, images of Konoha Academy and Team 7 floated in his head. All the missions they went on, boring and exciting and memories of him, sitting alone, staring out the window. But there was memories of fright and horror. These memories weren't the ones that tortured him at night but these monsters tortured him during the day. Fangirls.

He shuddered. "Glad I'm not a teen anymore."

Hinata laughed. "All those girls chasing you. It was actually quite funny. ESPECIALLY valentines day."

He grimaced. "Not fun."

"Well, Saiya, Aka, ultimate fangirl, she is possessed by Kankuro."

"Really?"

"Mhhmm hmmm," Hinata said. "She's done so many things just to get close to Kankuro, before-"

"Before what?"

"Well, before you became a missing nin."

He walked to the edge of the pool and sat down, putting his feet into the water. "What does that have to do with me?"

She smiled sadly. "She was addicted to you before Kankuro. More addicted than Sakura and Ino combined."

"Seriously?"

"Yea, and then you left and she got all heartbroken and Kankuro tried cheering her up. She fell for him but Kankuro wanted to be just friends with her. She didn't want that." She rose her hand out of the water. "Now she's going after him like she loved you."

Sasuke sat silent and Hinata and Temari both looked at him with peculiar looks on their faces.

"Oi, what made you go into zombie mode Uchiha?" Temari quoted. He didn't answer so she walked up to him and pounded his head.

"Ow, the hell?"

"Next time you do that, I'll hit harder." She rose a blonde brow. "What the hell were you thinking about?"

He rubbed his neck. "I'm going to need a tour of the village tomorrow."

"Why?" Hinata and Temari spoke in unison.

He shrugged his shoulders. "If that Saiya girl founds out I'm here, I'm gonna need all possible emergency routes."

Hinata blinked for a few seconds before busting out laughing. Temari soon joined in, both having tears in their eyes.

"F-forgive me, I'm-I'm trying not to visualize you running away from her with a horrid look on your face!" Hinata blurted through hiccups.

Sasuke smiled and rose. "Exactly. Now, if can excuse me, I'll finish my bath in the correct gender house."

"You go do that!" Temari yelled and laughed afterwards.

He looked behind once before he slid the door close and left.

"Ah, wow," Temari spoke in a whiff.

"Wow what?"

"He's...different."

"Yea, that's what I thought too."

"If he were his old self, he would have beat Kankuro and called us idiots."

"Ah, so presice Temari," Hinata joked.

Temari turned to Hinata with a mischievous grin. "And did he grow handsome."

Hinata punched her arm. "Hey! Don't be looking at other men when you already got one! By the way, how's it going between you two?"

"Oh the usual. We visit every month, hang out, I kick his ass, he calls me troublesome and we're...happy."

The Hyuga smiled softly. "I'm glad you found him Temari. And I think your the only one to boss him around."

"Yea Shika better be glad I'm with him," she replied. She stood and gave a little wave. "Anyways I'm going to bed. Tomorrow is a big day."

"Something going on?"

"Yea we're having a festival in two days." He eyes widened with joy. "Please tell me you will stay! Oh please please plllleeassee!"

Hinata put her hand on her chin, acting as if in thought. "I don't know..."

"Oh don't shit with me, you're staying."

She sighed with a smile. "I guess I am."

"That's my girl. Well, good night. See you in the morning."

"Night," Hinata spoke and Temari left her alone in the bathhouse.

* * *

Thank you for reading!

Please review, favorite and ill keep you guys posted for more chappies! :)

Love and Farewell,

NarutoImagine01


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

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Hi everyone! It's a new day with a new chapter! :) sorry it's so short I wanted to continue it but ran out of time so ill post sooner...maybe...if Im not busy. Enjoy!

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Nightmares

Hinata left a little while later Temari left, using her wrinkling fingers as a good sign to get out. She changed into clean clothes and left the bathhouse. She hesitated at the entrance, thinking if she would wait for Sasuke. She decided to wait.

Five minutes.

Ten.

She sighed. He might take longer, she thought. She left two minutes later.

The Hyuga entered her room loudly, not bothering to be quiet. She tossed the keys to her room on a small table in the middle of her room, metal clanking as it landed.

The blue haired woman ran her hand through her still wet hair and looked at the bed. It looked so inviting but she needed to finish cleaning up. She didn't bother looking into Sasuke's room and entered the bathroom.

She quickly brushed her teeth, washed up and grabbed a towel to finish drying her hair.

Hinata exited the bathroom slowly, still in the process of drying her hair.

"You really need to learn on how to be quiet dont you?" A muffled voice spoke.

Hinata's orbs sprang open and she jumped at the unexpected voice. She turned her head to Sasuke's door and flew it open.

There he was, spread on the bed looking like he just belly flopped onto it, his face and body carelessly covered by the blankets and pillows.

Hinata's mouth was open wide, not knowing what to say.

Both were quiet, one speechless, one waiting for an answer.

Sasuke eyebrows crossed, curious on why she didn't reply. He lazily raised his head towards the light, eyes squinting from the brightness. His eyes adjusted for a few seconds and he saw there. Just standing with mouth open.

He smirked even though he knew she won't be able to see him in his dark room. "Surprised?"

She blinked. "How long did you stay at the bathhouse?"

He shrugged. "A couple minutes. Didn't need to really wash up." She still stared back, her lavender eyes staring at him.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"I thought you were still in the bathhouse."

"Ah," he smirk rose to a smile, "that's why you were walking so...unquietly."

She burrowed her brows in irritation. "Well you could have told me."

"How so?" He picked his body off the bed and leaned against the head of the bed, his feet still tangled in the blankets.

Hinata didn't reply at first. She was too busy scanning his bare chest. In the bathhouse, she was trying her upmost strength not to look at his body and only on his face. The steam made him foggy looking but right now nothing was stopping her. The light she left on in her room shone though his door and landed right on the bed, yet his face was still invisible, only somehow his eyes shined bright black in the pitch dark room.

Barely finding her voice, she answered gruffly. "I don't know. You could have come up with something."

His eyes sparkled in the dark. "You're right. So far the only thing I could have thought of was to go talk to you. Oh, wait, does that mean I would have had to go into the women's again?"

She pouted teasingly at this. "You're hilarious. Good night." She made the motion to leave but was cut off by an arm crossing over the door. She raised her head and stare straight into his obsidian eyes.

"...I'm waiting."

She raised a brow. "For what?"

"An apology for waking me up. And I just fell asleep too," he quoted.

She scoffed. "I think you're the one that needs to apologize."

He looked taken back. "For what?"

"Like I said, you could have told me. I waited forever for you to come out!"

"Aw, how sweet."

"Shut up," she grumbled, annoyingly.

She pushed his arm away and walked to her bed. He turned and crossed his arms and leaned onto the doorframe. Sasuke watched her angrily toss aside the blankets and see her get in, face buried in the pillow.

His lips lifted into a smirk, amused on her behavior. He was about to turn into bed before he heard a soft voice. "We'll go on the mission tomorrow night."

His brows raised in question. "Why so late?"

"I have a couple things I need to do."

"Like what?"

"Something."

"Like what?"

She huffed a breath and rose for her position. "I'm going to do some shopping."

He tilted his head ever so slightly to the right. "Really?"

"Yes, really. Good night." She laid back down to her bed.

Sasuke thought for a moment. "Why?"

"Ah, Kami, you never run out of questions!" She hollered in her pillow.

Sasuke rose his hands up in defense, even though she couldn't see. "You should just tell me everything so I won't be curious."

Hinata rose again. "I'm going shopping for clothes, food, etc. and I need to do it tomorrow. Before you ask 'why tomorrow, it's because I promised Temari. That is it."

Both stared at each other with identical faces. "That's it?"

"Yes."

"...Okay."

She fell into her bed. "Finally you understand."

He shook his head. "You women are hard to understand."

"It's the men that are stupid," she commented.

"Listen honey, I would love to chitchat on this topic day and night, but we'll both need the rest," Sasuke said in a informative voice.

She grimaced. "Don't call me that."

"I can. Since I'm married to you," he teased and shut the door before being mere inches from being hit by an overstuffed pillow.

He laughed. "Good night, honey."

"Night duck butt." She yells. She heard no response and flopped down to bed, sighing exasperatedly before sinking into the dark night.

Hinata woke up startled. Someone yelled. She didn't think it was possible but a male voice erupted across the room.

She gasped. "Sasuke..."

The Hyuga threw off her blankets and ran towards the door, grabbing a kunai before entering. She tossed the door open only to be engulfed in full darkness.

"Sasuke?" Her voice echoed.

There he was, alone. He was tangled in his cloths, specifically a thin bed sheet on the floor. His face was turned away from her, chest heaving heavily.

Hinata took cautious steps but she halted at his voice.

"Go to sleep."

His voice was hollow and in deep gasps. Her throat tightened at the scene in front of her. What kind of horrid dream did he have to corrupt him like this?

His fists clenched and unclenched and his hard breathing didn't stop. She walked over to him again and kneeled next to him, putting her kunai away.

His whole body was layered with a coat of sweat. The window shined on his back, making his back glisten like little teardrops. She hesitantly placed her hand on his shoulder. He jerked away from her touch.

"I said go to sleep," he scowled.

She stood and left, making Sasuke think she left back asleep. But he was mistaken. Her footsteps came back into the room and she squatted again and tossed a towel over him, slowly getting rid of his sweat.

She wiped it all off, hesitantly and carefully to make sure he doesn't bark at her again. The white eyes woman left once again, returning with a clean blanket and hung it over his back, pulling it to his chest.

"Stand," she whispered firmly yet soft.

He did what she said, using her hands as support. She lifted him to the bed and laid him down, covering him completely with the blanket.

He shuddered from his lack of warmth, the blanket barely helping him. The Uchiha didn't want Hinata to see him like this. He wanted no one to see him, to leave him in his miserable bliss.

To leave him suffer for his mistakes. What a stupid person he was. The memories tortured him, never letting him sleep. He was hesitant to fall asleep, knowing the monsters of his past will haunt him.

The slaughter of the Uchiha.

The truth about Itachi.

The truth about himself. He was a murderer.

A murderer in the dark who sought revenge his whole life, for what his brother did. Yet for a cause he didn't know. He took the path of revenge, closing of all bonds with everyone and walked an astray path, never looking back.

That's what haunted him the most. He couldn't change the past but can continue living life with no regrets.

His days will be filled with no worry and peace but nothing will ever change his nights. And he didn't want anyone to know. He didn't want anyone to know he thought this, too. His miserable proudness confided him with his friends and he didn't dare show weakness.

He still breathed fast unable to control it. The Hyuga helped him which he was not happy about. She should have just left like he ordered, yet she didn't listen. He closed his eyes and growled. Now she knew.

Hinata didn't know what to do. She eyes the door with worry and paced back and forth in front of it. He needs my help, but what can I do?

The Hyuga continued pacing, trying to think on how to solve this. How can she help? He must have has many nights like this...she stopped. Wait...

She lowered her arms limplessly from being crossed over her chest. The night in the cave, she thought. He didn't wake up from nightmares. Why not?

Hinata couldn't figure it out but only one thing popped into her head. She but her lip but soon stopped. She raised herself straight, eyes glowering with determination and help. Hinata opened the door to his room.

The door opened and Sasuke tries his best to coaxe his breathing to yell at Hinata to leave him be. Before he knew, a heavy weight creaked his mattress making him sink a little to the middle. He would have turned around but his body was still, trembling horribly. He couldn't stop.

Sasuke's breath caught. Two arms wrapped around his back, pulling them closer than they already were. She leaned into his curve of his back, her arm circling his muscled belly. Using her right hand she drew tiny circles around his back, an act to soothe his tense body. A few minutes later his back relaxed and his white knuckled grip on blanket released.

She pried the blanket open and slid in closer for warmth, yet he was cold as ice. She continued to draw circles, impulsing chakra into tense areas on his back.

He shuddered one last time before closing his eyes. The last thing he remembered was the open breeze from the window, the despicable warmth of the blanket and the soft fingertips sketching his back and he closed himself into the darkness of the night...with no monsters.

The sun rose in the Suna village, giving its heat rays off right away. Rays of light shined in a window of the Suna compound, it's light not reaching a couple's faces yet.

Sasuke stirred and flicked his eyes open slowly. He was too tired to think yet he felt so rested. He looked at the glass window, observing that it was still too early to be awake, but he was.

For some reason his right arm was stiff. Something was laying on it and it was quite heavy for a pillow or a blanket. He peeked his right eye open and his left one flew open instantly. To his side, the Hyuga woman laid there, curled up next to him, her head and arm resting on his chest and his arm wrapped around her.

The Uchiha began to rise but stopped immediately. He laid himself back down and from the movement she snuggled even closer, giving out a sigh of content.

Sasuke stared at her, not knowing what to think or do. He inhaled but his breath caught. He smelled lavender again.

Subconsciously, he lowered her head and inhaled again, almost his whole face in her hair. He smiled in her hair and at his action. Kami, what an addicting smell. His raised his head regretfully and eyed the dark blue blob in front of him. Then he did something he would have never amagined. He carefully rose his free hand and touched her head with his fingertips.

He couldn't believe it. Her hair smelled awfully good and it was awfully soft. Felt like silk.

Sasuke laid there, absently running his hand through her hair, losing track of time.

Did she fall asleep after she came? How long did she stay awake? And why did she do this? It confused him of her actions. He was deadly, murderous and not to be trusted, yet she didn't seem to care.

Sasuke frowned. He didn't want her sympathy or pity. If she helped him for that...Sasuke growled.

His chest vibrated from his growl, causing Hinata to start squirming. Sasuke stopped breathing.

Shit.

What could be worse than waking up next to a crazy panicked woman that was sleeping next to you? He didn't know.

He felt her getting more awake by the second and he decided...the hell with it, to mess with her. He continued running his hand through her hair, making her exhale loudly out of her nose.

"Morning," he whispered.

"Morning," she mumbled, her voice still etching sleepiness. Hinata wasn't wide awake, and still didn't realize where she was.

She snuggled closer, her head being inches away from his nose. This made Sasuke smile softly for no reason. She was quiet until she spoke slurry. "What time is it?"

"Around 6."

She sighed. "Two more hours till breakfast. More sleep."

"Ne, I never thought you as NOT a morning person," he said mockingly while tucking on a strand of hair. How sleepy was she? She still didn't realize!

She shrugged and Sasuke wouldn't have thought she did if it weren't for her body moving barely. "Tired..."

"When did you go to sleep?" He questioned.

"Around...I don't know."

He smirked. "What were you doing staying up so late?"

She grew quiet. Sasuke stopped running his hand through her hair and frowned.

"You know why..." She whispered and pain stretched through her voice.

He knew it. The Uchiha rose making Hinata grip onto his shoulders from the unexpected movement.

The raven haired shinobi tore from the indigo haired kunoichi's grip and climbed off the bed. He walked to where he threw his shirt last night, to lazy to clean it. He tossed the shirt over his head, his back surprising without pain. Every time he had nightmares, his chakra would burst everywhere in his body, his back aching in the mornings.

When he finished, he stood facing the wall, not saying anything. "I didn't-"

"Don't you dare say I shouldn't have helped you!"

He turned to where the voice came from. Hinata still sat on the bed but her legs were in the ground and knuckles white from gripping on the edge of the mattess. He looked at her face and halted.

Her brows were scrunched in anger and lips upside down. But what made Sasuke falter was her eyes. They shined violet, lines etching in them, looking like she was about to activate her bloodline.

They didn't show pity but the complete opposite. They shined anger and contempt but didn't believe it.

"Did you see yourself last night? You were in pain!"

"Leave this my business."

"I will not! This happens to you almost every night, doesn't it?"

He didn't answer. "DOESN'T it?"

His anger increased ten-fold. "I don't need you're pity."

She grew angry even more. She jumped off the bed and stomped over to him.

"Pity!?" She nearly hollered. "Never in my life will I feel pity for you! You hide in your hatred, break bonds with your friends and you chose this life and you think I'll pity you?"

"I heard you. You're voice practically screamed it."

She scoffed. "Kami, Sasuke, I though you were a lot smarter than this."

"What do you mean?"

Her eyes dropped their ferocious hold and her voice softened. "I didn't feel pity. I felt sorry."

"Same thi-"

"Let me finish." She took a few step back and turned away. "I didn't lie. I won't ever pity you about you or your hatred life. But one thing I will. Your dreams."

Sasuke grimaced at this. "What dreams I have at night shouldn't be your concern."

"It is now. Since I finally found someone who has the same conflict."

Sasuke froze at her words. "What's the same," he told her slowly, his voice low.

"The dreams." She walked towards the window, looking out on the terrain but her heart was further. "I have them too."

"That's doesn't mean we're the same. What happened to you that make you get pulverized by these nightmares?"

"I saw my mother die in front of me," she spoke angrily, "Neji die in front of me, countless times me and Hanabi in danger for our royalty..."

Sasuke crossed towards the room to her. He came face to face with her, only to see her trying ever so hard not to cry.

"The dreams attack," she whispered, "Reminding me of everything that has been done to break my heart and break me." Her eyes landed on his. "Don't you ever block these feelings from anyone."

"What about you? Who have you told?"

"There is one person I could trust. Temari. I told her most of it."

"Most?"

"Something's should never be spoken of," she spoke harshly.

"And I am to tell you of my dreams?" His body tensed slightly. "How will I know you won't tell anyone?"

She laughed out of breath. "The only person I could spill secrets to, it's you."

His lips tugged upwards. "I do ask a lot of questions."

She smiled a tiny bit. "Yea. But I could practically guess what your dreams are about."

"You can but you won't ever know what you will see."

"It's true." She looked up at him sadly. His black eyes were empty and looked ever so dull.

She sighed quietly. "You're impossible, Sasuke Uchiha," she said. "You simply won't let your guard down."

Hinata reached up tentatively for his face. She gently tapped her finger on his temple. "Honestly, how could you think I pity you when almost the same thing happens to both of us in here?"

Hinata heard his breath catch. In a raggedy voice said, " I didn't know such things happened. Well most. But one thing bothers me."

"What could that be?"

"You're not afraid of me. Even in Sakura and Ino they give off fear but you never have."

She blinked. "What's there to be afraid of?"

"You know my reputation. S-ranked criminal. The last Uchiha. Murderer. Traitor. When people hear that, they fear, but why don't you?"

The Hyuga heiress smiled, her eyes shining bright like diamonds. Her next sentence made Sasuke freeze momentarily.

"I don't think that."

"What do you mean?" He asked in disbelief.

"I mean, whenever I hear your name," she poked his chest, "or when I see you, those things do come to me but disappear as fast as they came. Instead, words like, broken, sad, alone come in mind."

Sasuke looked down, not knowing what to come of what she said. He never asked people of what they thought of him. He saw it in their eyes. Hate, fear and fake admiration. But when he looked into the Hyuga's white eye, he saw emotion he couldn't decipher. He never would have thought she would ever say that.

"It's the same as being sorry for me."

"I have a question for you." She turned towards her room and stopped by the door frame, rotation her head towards him, her face showing nothing. "Do you feel actually feel sorry for yourself? Or do you feel sorry on what you think you've became?"

And then she left, leaving the Uchiha by himself in his room, thinking what he never questioned himself, lost to himself.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Please review and favorite. Makes me happy! Love all you guys who support me throughout this story. Your reviews are great and so supportive and I'm not saying this to get you guys to like me, it's good to know someone encourages you on a simple desire that's been overwhelming me. :)

Love and Farewell,

NarutoImagine01


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